Rise of the Yondaime Rikudo Sennin
by Uzumaki Ricky
Summary: Many great people over time have left their mark on the world forever, for better or worse. Soon it will be Naruto's turn to do the same, but will it be for better? Or worse? NaruHina, possible NaruHinaAyame or Narux3Girls
1. Prologue

**I liiiiiiive! Well, glad we got _that_ out of the way! Hey, everyone! Uzumaki Ricky here, giving you the first chapter of a brand-new fic! I know, it's been a _long_ time since I posted an actual chapter and still need to get my Shy Naruto rewrite up. But, right now, I'm going to be focusing on this fic and one other first, _then_ I'm going to be working on that one. So sorry fans of the original, but the rewrite will have to wait for now. Anyway, I hope that you guys enjoy this. If you don't, I'm just going to keep writing it anyway, but it'd be nice f you guys _did_ like it. Also, I owe a _big_ thanks to brown phantom and some other friends of mine on here for letting me bounce ideas off off of them. But since brown phantom also helped me with the chapter, I owe him an even _bigger _thanks. So shout out to you, bro! Anyway, to quote one of my favorite songs, _let's get it started in ha! Let's get it started in here!_**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, then Naruto would be with Hinata by now or be with her _and _another girl or two, would have gotten the picture after the first time Sakura punched him in the head, and wouldn't be so focused on Sasuke. Not only that, but Sasuke wouldn't be getting so many undeserved power-ups and would have died by now, plus Madara would already be dead again.**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Direct Quotes from Books/Scrolls'

**Rise of the Yondaime Rikudo Sennin**

**Prologue**

It was a day just like any other in Konoha. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and a gentle breeze blew through the village. It was actually one of the better days, one that most would say was the perfect setting for a painting or a movie opening before things started to go wrong. People were going about their business and almost no one was in a bad mood. Well... most of them, at least.

A young blond-haired six year old boy with cerulean blue eyes and three odd whisker-like birthmarks on each cheek wasn't having a very good day at the moment. His name was Uzumaki Naruto and, like it did for almost everyone else, his day started well. He woke up feeling pretty happy and almost looking forward to the day. That is, until he went outside to find something to do to occupy his time. That was when the glares and overwhelming sense of unwelcomeness came, given to him shamelessly by a vast majority of the people in his hometown. People that were unashamed to treat this lone orphaned child, dressed in little more than donated black and brown clothes the donaters had hoped would go to someone else, as if he should apologize to them just for being visible.

Naruto had to deal with them every day and tried to never let them completely ruin his day, so he was sure that today would be no different. Little did the young, blond, whisker-marked Uzumaki know that, today, one of several events that would permanently change his life would occur. At the current moment, Naruto was trying to ignore the glares he got from the populous. Some days it was easier than others, like he was briefly numb to them.

But, sadly, that meant there were days when the pain of knowing people seemed to unanimously disapprove of him. For reasons he couldn't even begin to guess at, those days were the ones that made him wish he could just find someone to hold him. Today was looking to be one of those days if he stayed around them much longer.

'Things will get better someday Naruto my boy, just have faith and strength to see it come true.'

The encouraging words from an old man briefly passed through the mind of the young six year old boy walking down the streets of his hometown. Rather than feel uplifted by the sentiment, he closed his eyes and tensed his lips, resisting a tempting scoff. 'Yeah old man, a lot of good that does me now in the meantime! Why can't he ever help me in the here and now? It's like I'm drowning but instead of telling me how to swim he's just telling me what will happen once I get to shore!'

Normally, Naruto didn't have bitter thoughts. Or at least ones he cared to take seriously. But being unable to go out in public without people looking at you like you're nothing but one giant, middle finger to them did tell to cause some less-than-friendly feelings on occasion. And yet the one person who could provide him even a little relief seemed so concerned about the long run that he was ignoring the short run completely.

Don't get him wrong, Naruto _did_ appreciate what the old man did. He just wished that said old man would think about the short run a little more and provide him with at least _some_ form of relief from the glares. It was days like this, where the glares seemed to hurt even more than usual, that made Naruto want to either hit something or go hide somewhere and cry. Admittedly, his life _was_ worse before. Before, he'd had at least one drunk person try to kill him each year on the anniversary of the day the Kyuubi was defeated, which was coincidentally also his birthday. But for some reason, when he was four, those just stopped completely. Naruto didn't know _why_ they stopped, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The worst part of his day-to-day life, aside from being regarding as some kind of Patient Zero, was the sheer and often soul-crushing loneliness. He did everything alone. Live alone, played alone, ate alone, slept alone, even cried alone. Far from an environment that was healthy for any child, even one that wasn't glared at on a regular basis. It seemed nobody could tolerate his presence for more than a couple of hours.

Even the old man, the Hokage himself, had to tell Naruto to go away and let him do his work more often. To this day, Naruto couldn't remember anyone willingly spending more than six hours in the same room as him. The kids his own age must have decided to mimic the adults and regarded him as if a sign was over his head saying 'Under absolutely no circumstances must you be friendly to this boy'.

Naruto closed his eyes and lightly shook his head. 'Stop thinking about this.'

Unfortunately, such a thing was easier said than done, especially as Naruto could _feel_ the glares on him as if people were trying to make him combust by willpower. Fortunately, none of the people in Konoha _could_ ignite things with just their eyes right then. But, if there were and if they did such a thing, at least it would have been quick compared to the civilian's attempt to do the same. Tears threatening to form, something the boy refused to do in public since in the past it only encouraged people to treat him worse, Naruto felt he had only one choice now. He turned down an alley and picked up the pace.

Once he felt he was far enough in the alley to be out of sight, he broke into a run and began to navigate his way through the familiar twists and turns. The same ones he took on other days when the glares got to be too much and he felt the need to be alone. Whenever he'd reach a street between the exit to the alley he was running through and one across from it, he'd put his head down and break into a run. But, this time, he was unaware of that fact that a middle-aged ramen chef, who actually _wasn't_ looking at him with hate in his eyes, and his daughter, who appeared to be about five yealrs older than Naruto himself, were coming down that street and saw him come out of that alley and run into the one adjacent to it.

"I wonder where he's off to in such a hurry." The daughter asked casually.

The older man's expression tensed a bit. "I don't think he was heading _to_ some place in a hurry, dear. Instead, he looked more like he was running _away_ from some place in a hurry."

The daughter looked up at her father questioningly.

"What could he be running away from, Tou-san?" The daughter asked, feeling a little upset as she remembered seeing tears streaking down the younger boy's cheeks and behind him as he ran. She'd thought she'd imagined it at first, but now she wasn't so sure.

"I don't know. But, whatever it was, I think we should try and make him feel better if we see him again. Anything that can make a kid run off crying must be bad. And with no one trying to make him feel better, the situation needs someone to make an effort." He told her.

The girl nodded in agreement with what her father said before the two of them continued on their way. But, even as they did so, the sight of the crying young boy with spiky, sun-kissed blond hair didn't leave their thoughts. Naruto didn't stop running until he saw just trees and no buildings. Where exactly he was didn't matter to him, he was just glad no one else was there either. Though, just to be sure, he had to look around. To his relief, he really was alone.

'That's better.' He thought, leaning against a tree then letting himself fall to the ground sitting against it.

With the comfort of solitude he let himself get some of his tears out of his system. Naruto gave himself a minute to catch his breath from running, then moved to a more physically comfortable spot. Once he found one, he began to let the tears that were almost begging to fall spill out as he sat down with one of his hands on the ground, palm flat to the ground.

'Is it so much to ask to have a friend?' He asked himself.

All Naruto wanted was a friend. Just _one_ person to accept him for who he was and not look at him as thought they hated him for just being alive. One that would stand by him through thick and thin, no matter what. He may not have wanted others to suffer the treatment he got because of being near him, like he feared they would, but he _did_ want someone that could help drive away the sadness, loneliness, and pain that his social isolation left him feeling. At least for a while.

As Naruto thought these things, he felt an odd, almost tingling feeling travel through his body. It was even building in some spots. But Naruto was so emotionally distraught that he just ignored it. Soon though, he began to feel something brushing up against and tickling the palm of his hand that was on the ground. Something that he _knew_ wasn't there before. Curious, he carefully lifted his hand and, poking out of the ground, was a tiny tree sapling, sporting only two leaves.

'Where did that come from? That wasn't there earlier... was it?' He asked.

Naruto turned his hand over and looked at his palm. He _knew_ that the tree sapling wasn't there before. If it had been, he would have felt it against his palm when he put his hand on the ground. Knowing this, he began to wonder if that strange feeling that traveled through his body and something he'd overheard once about something that everyone had, including him, called "chakra".

"Was that it? Did my chakra thingy make this tree grow?"

There was only one way to find out for sure. Naruto tried putting his hand over his palm and channeling chakra into the plant from his hand. Nothing happened.

"Maybe I'm doing it wrong." He said, sure that that was the explanation.

Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated before trying again. When he reopened his eyes, he noticed that the sapling looked a little bigger, but not enough for him to be sure he wasn't seeing things. Closing his eyes again, Naruto put both of his hands down around the sapling and concentrated with everything he had, putting _all_ of his focus towards his hands. What he felt and mentally pictured was what he could only describe as some kind of blue or yellow energy rushing through him, down into his hands, and out of them into the sapling before something surprising happened.

He knew for a fact he hadn't been touching the sapling before. But, with his eyes closed, he knew he could feel bark in both hands. And, if he wasn't mistaken, they were pushed a bit more apart than they had been before. He opened his eyes and dropped his jaw to see the sapling was replaced with a more grown tree, a diameter at the trunk easily six inches and with a height he couldn't guess at but he could at least see the top of it.

Naruto looked down at his hands and could only think 'Whoa... I really _did_ do that...! But still, I'm kinda disappointed. I mean, some people can talk to dogs, some people can see through walls, some have a hive inside them, and some can even make their body parts grow! But me... I get stuck with a shinobi-style a green thumb...!'

An idea came to him. 'Hmm... is that all this can do though? Can I maybe choose the plant that grows, or make the tree take on a specific form? Like a wall or spikes or some kind of weapon? Ooh, can I make clones with this? I hope so, then that clone test I heard from that older student won't be so hard for me when it's my turn.'

Naruto smiled at the idea of not failing due to not being able to make normal clones. It was widely known that Naruto's clones were terrible. Whenever he tries to make one, the best he gets is a pale head or torso. This usually caused other students to either laugh at him, be grossed out, or some combination of the two. But if he could find a way to make clones with this, he'd probably be able to pass that test more easily.

Naruto soon realized that he was getting ahead of himself. First, he had to see if he could find out more about this ability. Naruto had heard that there was a library or two in Konoha, with access to both civilian knowledge _and_ shinobi knowledge. He'd even passed one once during his walks through the village. But most of the shinobi knowledge was in a section restricted to anyone below the rank of genin. Undaunted, Naruto made his decision.

'I better head to the nearest one and see if I can find out more about this! And it _might_ be a good idea to not tell anyone I can do it until I have a good idea of how they'd react. Wouldn't want people chasing me down or trying to kill me... well, _again_, at least. And with them _not_ acting weird and talking funny.' Naruto thought as he picked himself up and began to head out of the forest.

Suddenly, he stopped. 'Wait, I better confirm at the very least how long these trees can last. They wouldn't do me much good if they disappear as quickly as other jutsu I hear do.'

With that, he went back to the tree he created and used a rock to carve an N into the bark. 'I'll come back tomorrow. If this is still here, I'll know this green thumb can be used for something long term.'

With that in mind, Naruto wiped his face on his sleeve to get rid of any remaining tears before once again beginning to head out of the forest. Once he was out, he took to the alleys again and began to navigate them to make his way to the nearest library. He did this solely to avoid going back out into the sea of glares, not wanting to let them get to him again. Konoha's library wasn't like most libraries in other towns. While it did offer books to read for research or recreation, and even movies or historical documents as well, it's primary purpose was the containment of ninja tactics that were considered public domain instead of private property.

Of course, such material was off-limits to civilians and Academy students only got to see a little bit of it. So 'public domain' was mostly a term to use in place of the less appealing phrase 'non-clan property jutsu and taijutsu'. Not much of a reader, and already aware of how welcome he was in other places, Naruto had never really tried going here before. But there was no better place to start his quest for information on how chakra could make plants grow. He had to know if this was unique to him or something just anyone could do.

Soon enough, the library was in sight for Naruto. As he got closer, Naruto began to get a little excited at the idea of getting some answers and was actually starting to genuinely hope that he'd be allowed in. Once he got to the library, he opened the door and walked in before looking around from the entrance for the nearest librarian or staff member in the hopes of asking them for help in completing his self-assigned task. Once he found them, he walked up to the desk they were working at.

"Umm... excuse me?" He humbly asked, figuring as long as he made an effort to be polite the other person wouldn't be likely to strike him on sight.

The librarian looked up from her paperwork and saw the whiskered blonde. A scowl formed on her face as if by sheer reflex. Naruto flinched a little bit at the scowl, but didn't let it stop him. He just _had_ to get some answers.

"I-I was wondering... do you know if there's any information here about people using chakra to create plants or trees?" Naruto asked, trying to not let the librarian's scowl deter him.

The librarian's scowl deepen briefly as she started to look up and away from Naruto and ignore him. But, when she did so, she seemed to catch sight of something across the room that made her pale briefly before she looked down and smiled at Naruto.

"Actually yes, we do. Go to the catalog and look under the name Senju Hashirama. I'm sure there's something in the non-restricted section pertaining to him." She said kindly.

"Thanks." Naruto said, then went off to find this catalog. 'Obviously, I'm not the first person to do this. But, since she only mentioned a person's name instead of something like 'plant jutsu', that might mean it's not a common thing. Does that mean I'm somehow related to this guy? Some skills can only be gained if you're part of a clan. And if it's not a common thing, then does that mean he didn't know that much about how to use it either?'

No answers coming to him, Naruto opened to catalog and looked through the contents. He found Hashirama's name and directions to the sections he was in, all except one being restricted for ninja use.

Smiling, Naruto headed towards the closest section about Hashirama, eager to start finding out more information. But he couldn't help but think that, somehow, Hashirama's name seemed familiar to him. He _knew_ he'd heard it somewhere before, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

He got his answer when he opened the first book he grabbed and saw the words "Shodaime Hokage" next to Hashirama's name.

'The Shodaime Hokage? I've got the same power as the man who founded Konoha?' Naruto thought in disbelief.

Naruto read further and learned that the power that he and the Shodaime Hokage shared was called Mokuton. Naruto read more, but only found things about Hashirama's achievements in life as Hokage. Closing the book, he put it back and moved onto the next one, his mind burning with even more questions than before. But, unfortunately, he had too many questions for his taste and not enough answers yet. Opening the next book about Hashirama, Naruto began reading and soon found out that the Mokuton allowed Hashirama to create wood and trees, conjure up entire forests, control wood and trees, and even create things made of wood like clones and even a dragon or giant humanoids creatures.

'It all seems to revolve around wood. Is it limited to just that or did he never try anything else?' Naruto wondered, though he wasn't able to find anything. But his eyes widened like it was some kind of doujutsu when he came across one particular sentence.

'After his inauguration and the defeat of Uchiha Madara, Hashirama managed to find a wife, who went by the maiden name Uzumaki Mito.'

Naruto continued to replay that bit of information in his mind over and over again. Uzumaki. _Uzumaki_ Mito. He had the same ability as the Shodaime Hokage _and_ his surname was the same as the maiden name of the Shodaime's wife before she married him.

'This is getting _way_ too weird to be a coincidence...!' Naruto thought, starting to get a little freaked out. 'I have the same last name as this Mito person before she married the Shodaime _and_ I have the Mokuton like the Shodaime did! Could I... could I be related to the two of them somehow...? Even if it's just distantly or indirectly... is it _really_ possible...?'

Naruto read back a bit to see if he might have missed anything. He found that Hashirama could also use a Mokuton jutsu to create trees with flowers on them. Ones whose pollen could have an effect on his opponents if used in a combat situation. Not exactly what Naruto was hoping to find, but he'd still file it away for later with the other things Hashirama could do using the Mokuton.

After an indeterminate amount of time Naruto couldn't find anything more on Mito except where she came from, some place called Uzushiogakure. This bothered Naruto, not only was this basically teasing him about possible connections, but it was regarding the wife of the Hokage as a mere footnote. Either she had never really done anything for the village or anyone that was worth mentioning, or someone decided she wasn't important enough to do more than mention. A bit disappointed about not finding out more about Mito, Naruto went back to his original task of trying to find out more information about the Mokuton.

After a bit, he noticed something missing. 'Wait, it describes what he did but it doesn't give an actual list of jutsu or how he performed them. Don't tell me that stuff is in the restricted section. How am I supposed to learn how to use my own Mokuton if I can't get actual instructions? By trial and error?' Naruto thought, frowning more deeply than most people thought a boy his age could.

Something clicked in the boy's mind and the sour expression left him, replaced by an intrigued one. 'Hmm... that might actually work.'

Going by what he'd read, Naruto began to imagine different possibilities that could come from him experimenting with the Mokton. 'The question now is should I experiment with this alone or not?' He asked himself.

Naruto's mind then began to conjure up the villagers' possible reactions to him having the Mokuton. He could see them, at best, treating him a little less harshly or just acting like he doesn't exist. At worse, he could see them somehow accusing him of copying or stealing the Senju clan's Mokuton and hunting him down. He knew that the old man wouldn't react that way, but he couldn't be so sure about the rest of the village.

'I think I'll hold off on telling the villagers this. Same with my classmates, until I'm sure they like me first. Though should I ask the old man for a possible tutor?' He thought, his face deep in thought.

Naruto thought about it for a minute. On the one hand, having the aged Hokage behind him on this would be helpful. On the other hand, how could he know whether or not the old man would keep it between them? After all, even if he _did_ care about him, the aged Hokage was a village leader and shinobi first and a person second. He'd most likely think about the village's best interest first and Naruto's own second. So if he felt that others in the village knowing about Naruto having the Mokuton would benefit the village, he'd likely tell those that he knew would help ensure that.

'And then tell me what he did long after it's too late to do anything about it.' He thought, then closed his eyes briefly. 'For now, I'll keep this to myself.'

With his decision made, Naruto closed the book he was on and decided to look through one more to see if he could find something to help him learn a little more about how to at least control his Mokuton if he couldn't find anything about any jutsu for it.

'Where can I look for that without going to the restricted section?' He asked himself. 'Is there a book that offers generic advice for kekkei genkai? Sort of a one size fits all kind of guide?'

Naruto began to think about it more. Eventually, he decided to go back to the catalog and look and see if such a book was in the library.

'Let's see.' He said to himself, looking through the list. 'Kekkei genkai. List of... types of... elements... hmmm... general theory... that might work.'

Naruto looked closely at where the general theory book was, then headed towards the section it was in. Once he reached it, he looked through row after row until he found it. Right away he grabbed it and opened it to the index, not wanting to read the thing cover to cover to find what he was looking for, if it was even there. It took some searching, but Naruto found the section on the Mokuton. Turning to it, he started reading.

'The Mokuton is one of the most famous kekkei genkai to come out of Konoha, but it is also the rarest. As of this book's publication, Senju Hashirama is the only person in Konoha's history to possess this bloodline. The exact reason why is unknown.'

'The _only_ one? Then who taught him how to use it?' Naruto asked.

Naruto found this odd. If Hashirama was the only one in history to possess it, did _he_ learn it through trial and error, too? Rereading that part, Naruto noted a part he missed. Hashirama was the only one in _Konoha's _recorded history to have it. Did that mean that someone had it before him _before_ Konoha was founded? If so, then did he learn it from them or were they already dead by the time Hashirama was born or discovered he had it?

This was getting Naruto nowhere. So far, he'd only discovered that he had the same kekkei genkai as the Shodaime Hokage, most likely only _some_ of what Hashirama could do with it, _and_ that he might be related to Hashirama or his wife Mito in some way. All of this searching and Naruto _still_ had more questions than answers.

'And it looks like I won't get more answers until I become an official ninja.' He thought dejectedly.

Sighing, Naruto turned back to the index to see if he could find a section with basic knowledge on some kekkei genkai to give him an idea of what he'd be getting himself into.

'The Mokuton is considered part of the element class kekkei genkai, to be more specific the sub-element class. Rather than be an advanced or unique manipulation of one of the five primary chakra elements, it is a combination of two elements together in order to form a sub-element. According to Hashirama, it was a combination of earth and water. Other sub-elements on record include but are not limited to ice, magma, boil, scorch, and storm.'

Other than wonder what was a scorch element, Naruto wondered if this might be part of the learning process for his potential trial and error. Naruto began to wonder if researching the other elements as well could help him better understand his Mokuton, as well as come up with new and more unique ideas on what to do with it. Naruto went back to the index and found the section on the ice one, then turned to it and began to read.

'The Hyoton was a mixture of water and wind to create ice, owned by the Yuki clan of Kirigakure. This was different than the ice techniques that come from Yukigakure in that the Hyoton can actually freeze water in the surrounding area and manipulate it, whereas the latter could only use snow and ice already present.'

Naruto arched an eyebrow. 'So it's possible to mimic a kekkei genkai, just not as effective. Maybe someone's tried mimicking the Mokuton? That might lead to some ideas.'

Naruto began to smirk at the possibilities that concept brought to mind. If someone could mimic the Hyoton using snow and ice present in the area, then just _think_ of what he could do while having the Mokuton if he could find a way to control and manipulate wood and trees already available to him. A slightly evil chuckle, one reminiscent of his mood when he'd pull a particularly good prank, escaped his lips at the thoughts that came to mind at that idea. Putting such thoughts aside, Naruto turned to the next section, the one on the magma kekkei genkai, and started reading.

'The Youton is a combination of earth and fire to create magma. Oddly enough, this kekkei genkai comes in variants with no clear connection between them other than the elements used. One form uses pure and simple magma, another results in a type of rubber instead, and a third results in the substance quicklime.'

Confused on how lava, rubber, and whatever the heck quicklime is could all be a part of one kekkei genkai, Naruto did get _one_ thing from this entry. That kekkei genaki were not restricted to just one expression of themselves. This meant that while he could use wood, there was no guarantee that was all he could use. Naruto began to smirk more as more and more possible experiments came to mind.

Oh, the wonders of elemental kekkei genkai. They could be so versatile on how they are used _and_ can come in different varieties of themselves. He read that that Youton could also come in a lava form and that there was supposedly even a justu for the Youton that allowed you to coat yourself in a magma armor. That one sounded almost painful to Naruto. Interesting, but painful.

'I mean, how can you get covered in an armor made of magma and not get liquefied by it? And even if you _don't_ get liquefied by it, wouldn't the heat make you sweat like a pig?' Naruto thought, still confused about the mechanics of that jutsu. 'Obviously the user has some form of protection against their own element, though that might be more because of great control than an automatic thing. I mean, a if a tree were to fall on me, I doubt it would break before it hit me.'

Naruto decided to contemplate that more later and turned to the next section. The section on Futton, the Boil Element.

'The Futton is a type of kekkei genkai found in Kiri, one that has resulted in the deaths of many ninja before they even knew what they were experiencing. According to the survivors, as well as the autopsies, the bloodline works by combining fire and water in order to create dangerous gases that can either dissolve skin and melt flesh upon contact, or combust into flame if lit with a spark. Speculation suggests that the gases can also be toxic if inhaled. By mixing these gases into the fog around Kiri, or by using it in conjunction with the Kirigakure no Jutsu, a ninja possessing this kekkei genkai could kill a large group of enemy ninja before they even knew something had happened.'

'Whoa...! That's pretty deadly.' Naruto thought, surprised by the brutality of the skill yet impressed by the effectiveness of it at the same time.

Refocusing on his task, Naruto turned to the next section. And that section covered Shakuton, the Scorch Element.

'The Shakuton combined fire and wind in order to produce miniature suns and various flames different than normal Katon jutsu. Found only in Sunagakure, these flames were dangerous in that they could kill their victims even without touching them. Close proximity to a Shakuton jutsu often evaporated the vast majority of the water in their bodies, effectively mummifying them. Direct contact was little different than living cremation.'

'Wow.' Naruto thought, bothered but impressed by the effectiveness of the techniques. 'Wouldn't want to fight those guys with wood. But I like the idea that, even if you miss your target, you can still do damage. I wonder if I can do the same somehow...'

Naruto began to contemplate it more and imagined having wooden spikes just out of the wood or trees he created or controlled if they initially missed their target, stabbing or slashing the target even while missing at first. An evil smirk crossed his face at this as he imagined more wooden spikes jutting out of the previously created ones. Shaking himself out of it, Naurto turned to the next section, which covered Ranton. The Storm Element.

'The Ranton works by combining water and lightning. However, unlike what the name suggests, it does not generate actual storms. Rather, it instead generates condensed chakra that can best be described as lightning one can actually aim. The name probably originated from the idea that water and lightning are only found naturally together in thunderstorms. The bloodline is primarily offensive and provides only an intercepting form of defense which requires fast reaction times to accomplish.'

Naruto nodded. 'Almost sounds like the opposite of mine. Mine is primarily defensive, but can be used offensively if I'm quick and creative enough.' Naruto continued reading.

'These are only some of the elemental kekkei genkai out there. Some of the known ones are currently impossible to confirm the true nature of, such as crystal, and others are suspected but not confirmed, such as magnet. Some theoretical kekkei genkai appear to be merely made up, like the rumored Tetsuton.'

Naruto made note of these in case he ever encountered someone with one of those bloodlines, however unlikely it might be. He also decided to look them up and study them too sometime, either to give him more ideas or to help him come up with ideas to counter them later on.

'That reminds me, I better consider what the Mokuton is strong against and weak against. Fire obviously comes to mind, but what else?' He asked himself.

Naruto thought about it more. Obviously, lightning would have an advantage over it too if things in nature were an thing to go by. And it could obviously stand up to water. Then again, if it was reinforced with enough chakra, could a Mokuton jutsu stand up to something it had a disadvantage against?

'I mean, I hear that fire always has the advantage over wind. But, if that were true, then blowing out a candle would be impossible. Wind should be able to defeat fire if it's reinforced enough, so there's no reason wood couldn't withstand fire or lightning if reinforced, too.' Naruto thought. 'Besides, don't some kinds of wood take longer to burn then others? I remember hearing something like that in the fire safety lessons.'

Naruto thought this over and decided to put his theory to the test at some point. Maybe when he was a genin, if he trusted his sensei enough to tell them about his Mokuton and if they knew any fire jutsu.

'Alright, I have a good idea how to start this. And, if the forest around Konoha really _was_ created by the Shodaime Hokage, then I don't have to worry about these jutsu having a time limit or anything. Heh, you know what, this is actually an impressive ability. Most ninja can only destroy, but I can create.'

Naruto began to feel proud of having the Mokuton. Not just because he shared an ability that the Shodaime Hokage had, but because he could also create when most shinobi could only destroy. He felt that that was something he felt he should be proud of.

'Hey if I can grow fruit I won't have to worry about going hungry again.' He thought with a smirk before losing it. 'Oh wait, if I can grow vegetables too, then the old man will say I have no excuse not to eat them now.'

Naruto sighed, since he now had a problem. On the one hand, since he could grow fruit, he wouldn't have to worry about running out of food before he could get some more cash or get himself fed. On the other hand, he hated vegetables. And, if he could grows those too, the old man would get on his case a bit about not eating them if he found out. Then again, he didn't know _for sure_ that the Mokuton could also be used to grow vegetables. Since it mostly focused on wood, trees, and things that can grow on trees, it probably wouldn't apply to vegetables.

'I can live with eating fruit daily, but not vegetables. Besides, maybe I can share fruit with others and get them to like me. You don't win friends with salad.' Naruto thought.

Naruto it over and decided to give that a shot sometime. Besides, if the saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" was true, then maybe he'd never have to see a doctor or go to a hospital again if he had at least one apple each day.

'Hmm... if the tree grows really quickly, I bet I can make the fruit grow quickly too. I just hope I don't have to grow a new tree each time I want something. Hey, what if I can adjust the fruit a bit, like make orange apples or something instead of red or green? I bet people would buy that at least once.' Naruto thought, contemplating the possibilities.

Naruto began to think up new and more inventive ideas of how to use his Mokuton in his daily life without having to tell anyone about it. He even began to come up with a few prank ideas involving it.

'Ooh, maybe I can create my own treehouse with this. A fortress of solitude.' He thought with some excitement. 'But when do I show this to others? Hmm... probably not until when I'm older and can use it effectively. Know my limits and strengths, that sort of thing.'

Naruto smiled at this, but then shook is head and decided to get back to his research. He then began to look back at the book and turned it back to the index to see if there were any sections on any of the remaining element-based kekkei genkai it mentioned. He found a section marked "Theoretical Kekkei Genkai" and decided to give it a look.

'All villages have their secrets and their own kekkei genkai, some more than others. Due to the fact that each village and clan guards these secrets, it's difficult to confirm the natures of known kekkei genkai or if some jutsu are actual kekkei genkai or merely advanced element manipulation. One example of advanced manipulation is Kumo's Black Lightning, which appears to be mostly Raiton jutsu modified in a unique way.'

'Black lightning...? How is _that_ possible...?' Naruto thought, confused on how someone could create Black Lightning without it being some kind of kekkei genkai.

'Reports even tell of bubble jutsu from Kiri, though this is currently considered a similar form of advanced element manipulation with Suiton jutsu. Rumors claim that some ninja in Iwagakure are capable of flight, which if true would implicate a type of advanced manipulation of Futon jutsu. Of course this is mostly speculation.'

'Well this is helpful.' Naruto thought sarcastically.

'Types of jutsu seen but not confirmed to be either kekkei genkai nor advanced manipulation include coral jutsu from Kirigakure, sand jutsu from Sunagakure, and powder jutsu from Takigakure. The natures of these ninjutsu are at the time of publication impossible to determine, leaving nothing but theory.'

'What kind of reference book only offers guesses?' Naruto asked himself, then sighed and decide to read further, in hopes of finding something else that was actually helpful or useful.

'Due to the rarity of the Mokuton, it's confirmed as a recessive bloodline, meaning unlike other clan jutsu not everyone in the clan gets to use it. Another example of a recessive bloodline belongs to the Kurama clan of Konohagakure, which is shown in only one member every other generation. The same can be said of the Shikotsumyaku, a bloodline belonging to the Kaguya clan of Kirigakure, which is active at presumably the same rate.'

'So if it's something that really only happens once in a while instead of all the time, then it really isn't impossible that I might be connected the the Shodaime or his wife.' Naruto thought, hope growing.

Naruto began smiling at the idea of that. he might actually be learning a bit about his own heritage while learning how to use his Mokuton. He might even have family out there. But, at this, a frown began to form on Naruto's face.

'If that is true, then why am I alone now? I mean, if I'm part of a clan, how can no one know about it? Wouldn't there be someone trying to find me? Is there some way to, I dunno, test to find out who I'm related to? I didn't pop out of the ground like that tree did, I _had_ to come from someone. Someone has to know my parents, there has to be a way to find them.' Naruto thought, thoroughly upset now.

Naruto felt himself burning with even _more_ questions. Except, this time, they were questions that he'd already wondered about before. For a long time now, Naruto had wondered about the truth of his origins. He'd burned to know who his parents were and why they weren't with him now. Did they abandon him?

Did they die? What were they like? These were questions that Naruto had asked himself more times than he count count. He'd even asked the old man these same questions. But he always got the same answers. Knowing where this train of thought would take him if he let it continue, Naruto shook his head as if to literally shake off the thoughts themselves.

'I'll think about it later, and maybe I should see if the old man has ever bothered looking for my parents. If I bring this up to him, he'll have no reason not to, but I'm not sure that's reason enough to tell him now. Agh, stop thinking about it.' Naruto thought to himself.

He closed the book, hoping that might make it easier for him to ignore these thoughts. 'I should go back to the forest and try some tests. That will get me at least some answers.'

Nodding his head, Naruto put the book back. After thanking the librarian for her help, he left the library. But what he _didn't_ see was that someone was watching him from behind a bookcase. The person came out from behind it, walked over to where they saw Naruto looking through books, and pulled out the books in the spots they memorized from when Naruto pulled them out. Opening the books one-by-one and looking through them, one thought came to the person's mind when they found out what Naruto was looking at.

'Why was Naruto-chan looking at books about Senju Hashirama and kekkei genkai...?'

_**To Be Continued...**_

**Well, that's it for the first chapter! Hope you liked it, cause it took a _lot_ of work to finish this in the amount of time I wanted to. Also, since I'll be going to Job Corps in soonish, expect updates a minimum on every two weeks once I get in. Again, _big_ thanks to brown phantom for his help with this! And another big thanks to Spyrofan777 for giving me the kick in the pants I needed to get my writing motivation back. Kudos to _both _of you guys! Well, til next time! This is Uzumaki Ricky signing off. Shaka and Aloha, readers!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Finally! Sorry. I was hoping to have this out about two days ago, but some stuff go in the way. For starters, Starbuck's wifi was out for a couple days and my aunt was in the hospital. Then, the very day that Starbuck's wifi is back up, I find out that the new manager made it that you need to buy something to stay in the store. Due to this, I had to leave. But I've found another, nicer-looking Starbucks in Mililani Mauka where that's not a problem and still have the library as well. Anyway, another thing that delayed the chapter for about a day was that, even with brown phantom's help, I had no idea where to cut it because it was getting too long and I didn't wanna stick you guys with a 15k+ to 20k chapter. Anyway, some editing later, here we are. So if a certain part of it seems a little incomplete, it's because of that. Enjoy the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I _wish_ I owned Naruto. If I did, then there wouldn't be nearly as many holes or bad attempts at humor in the story and I'd be living large.**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Direct Quotes from Books/Scrolls'

**Rise of the Yondaime Rikudo Sennin**

**Chapter 1: Practice Makes Perfect and Memories**

It was sunset and a certain forest was filled with activity, both natural and foreign. The foreign activity in this occasion was the result of two boys trying to accomplish something that their elder had assigned them to work on hours ago. It was easy in principle but difficult in execution, as their bruises and fatigue could attest to. Those two boys were a panting Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, who were both working on the Tree Walking chakra control exercise and even making it into an unspoken competition between them. Right now, Sasuke was in the lead, but Naruto was steadily gaining ground on him.

"Getting tired, dobe?" Sasuke challenged, trying to cover his own growing weariness.

"I don't know the meaning of the word, teme!" Naruto replied.

"I might have actually believed that if you weren't on one knee, struggling to breathe." The Uchiha stated.

Naruto got on his feet. "Says the guy in the same exact position."

Not letting Sasuke reply, he went back to his tree running up it, the bark eroded away at this point. Sasuke's tree wasn't exactly in a better state itself. Not wanting let his underachieving teammate upstage him, Sasuke took off running at the exact same time as Naruto. This time both went the highest either had ever gotten, but it still wasn't enough to reach the top.

Running out of steam, they began to feel the power of gravity again. But, after half a dozen falls, they at least began to figure out how to handle uncomfortable landings. Both had wondered if that was half the training right there. If it was, then their absent teammate Haruno Sakura was only half-done with the training instead of all done.

Naruto and Sasuke both forced themselves into a roll upon contact with the ground to lessen the strain of the landing. However, Sasuke still came out of it looking more worse off than Naruto.

"To hell with this." Sasuke mumbled, getting up on shaky legs and brushing some dust off his clothes. "My body's had enough for the night. I need some food and sleep before I can even look at a tree again."

"Quitter." Naruto teased.

Sasuke just shrugged. "At least I'll be the one eating. You'll just pass out here, meaning you'll get nothing more done and we'll start tomorrow when I'm better rested and recharged. Who will fall behind then?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes defiantly. "Then I'll just get to the top tonight!"

"And who would be here to see you do such a thing?" Sasuke questioned, trying to egg his calm, but hard-headed rival on.

Naruto folded his arms across his chest. "I don't need anyone to see it! I just need to know I did it!"

Instead of taking the bait, the Uchiha let out one of his characteristic grunts. "Whatever. Just don't kill yourself, dobe. You may be annoying sometimes, but, without you, I'll be stuck with dealing with Sakura by myself all day."

The whiskered blonde rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that must be so terrible! Dealing with a girl who admires you!"

"You do mean a loud and annoying fangirl that's obsessed with me, right?" Sasuke asked, not seeing the positive side of dealing with his other teammate alone.

"No, I mean the one who would do anything you asked of her. _Including_ shut up." Naruto told him, finally making Sasuke see it.

Sasuke's eyes widened for a moment, then went to normal and he groaned. 'Why didn't _I_ think of that...?!'

From his expression, Naruto could tell what his teammate was thinking and smirked. "And you called _me_ the idiot! I'm going to remember this the next time you use that word!"

"You get _that_ one, Naruto...! You get _that_ one...!" Sasuke claimed, then turned and walked away to protect what dignity he still has.

Naruto waited until he was a hundred percent sure Sasuke was gone. Once he knew Sasuke had truly left, the blonde leaned against a tree and slid down it while sighing in relief as he stopped to take a break.

'Finally...! I thought he'd _never_ leave...!' He thought, relieved that his teammate was gone so that he could drop his act and get some _real_ training done. 'I was starting to get sick of pretending that I still didn't have Tree Walking down!'

You see, Naruto had discovered chakra control exercises during a trip to the library and began working on them. But, since he was still an Academy student at the time, he could only work on the ones available to Academy students. Once he became a genin, he got access to the higher-level ones available to shinobi. One of those was the Tree Walking exercise, which he managed to complete _just_ before he and his team got assigned the mission they were on to Nami no Kuni. Naruto just pretended to not know it so he wouldn't damage his Uchiha teammate's pride and cause unnecessary tension between them while on their first mission outside the village, _especially_ since they'd likely be facing Momochi Zabuza again in a matter of days.

'I should find somewhere else to practice. Wouldn't want to leave behind any evidence or anything that stands out too much.' Naruto thought before walking away from the clearing, though he made sure to remain close by in case someone came looking for him. He wouldn't want to have to explain why he suddenly went somewhere else if caught.

'This seems like a good place to try it.' Naruto thought and rolled up his sleeves. 'I just hope my improved chakra control has improved what I can do. Let's start with a simple growth test.' With that he channeled earth and water chakra together into his hands and placed them on the ground, then concentrated on channeling the chakra into the ground. Soon, a tree began to grow from the spot at an abnormal rate.

Naruto stopped and the tree easily became four times his height. 'Okay, about two seconds in and it's this tall. It looks like an improvement. Being able to grow trees faster can be useful. Now let's see if my control over the size has improved.' He stepped aside and got ready to start again. 'This time I'll try to make it stop at my height.' He put his hands on the ground and another tree came out, this one stopped at twice his height. 'Alright, I still need to work on that a little more.'

Nodding, Naruto then began to attempt to use his Mokuton to control the trees and the wood that their bark was made of. Putting his hands on the one his height, he channeled his chakra into it. Spikes started to grow out of the bark and the branches got sharper, then it stopped. 'Good... but not what I was aiming for. This looks more like a tree crossed with a cactus.'

Sighing, Naruto put his hand back on it and forced the spikes to retract and the branches to return to normal. He then began to concentrate on manipulating the branches to make them move according to his will. At first it just looked like they were waving in the wind, but there was no wind. Then they started moving in sync, as if the tree was rowing in water.

'Good! I got that, at least!' Naruto thought, happy that he was making progress.

Naruto smiled slightly at his achievement. But soon, he donned a more serious look on his face and began to test the limits of how much he could control the branches. He tried to make one point up and another point down. It worked, but each branch near them did the same thing. He tried to make half of all point up and the other half point down. This worked, but it was a split process, meaning all branches on one side went up and the branches on the other side went down as if the tree was bisected vertically. Trying to mix it up, Naruto tried to make it so each one would have to point opposite of the one next to it. The branches quivered, as if unable to understand the command, and reverted back to half-and-half.

'Guess it's easier to control them one at a time for different directions.' Naruto mused.

Nodding to himself, he then began to try to manipulate the bark of the tree again. Small thorns sprouted everywhere, much like on a rose stem. Then they retracted and Naruto sculpted a plain face from the wood, one of his ways of testing his ability to make wood clones. A little more chakra went in and the tree slowly morphed into a mostly featureless wooden statue.

'They always look like this.' Naruto thought, bothered. 'How do I make them look more convincing rather than like a mere carving?' He tried again and this time the wood reshaped to look like himself, but it was still colored like wood. 'If only I could affect the pigments and the shape at the same time.'

While his creation certainly wouldn't fool any enemies into thinking they were him, maybe they could at least fight. Naruto decided to check if he could make them move, then try to find a way to do so without touching them. Naruto put his hands on the wooden construct, and mentally commanded it to raise a hand. It did so, but much quicker than he expected, resulting in what was little different than being given an uppercut from the wooden double. The impact made him fall down on his rear, but that was more due to the surprise behind it.

'Boy, even the trees like to hit me.' Naruto groaned before glaring at the wooden double with its arm pointing up. To his surprise it actually retracted its arm down before he did anything.

'What was that about?' He asked himself as he got up.

To his surprise, the wooden clone stepped forward and helped him up, as if it sensed his desire to get back on his feet. 'Better test this.' He then thought about the wood clone stepping backwards but made no effort to touch it. To his amazement, the wood did just as he silently commanded.

'Nice, I don't have to touch them to make them obey, but so far I have to give them a lot of commands to keep them going. But this is good, I better tinker a little more.' He thought.

Naruto began to test what he could make them do. He tried to have the wooden double attempt Taijutsu kata's, leap and kick, do push-ups, and even dance. To his relief, the double could in fact do them all, but he noticed a few flaws. For one, the wood clone was much slower than he himself was. For another, it seemed to only really do motions that Naruto himself was already familiar with, so it was incapable of being unpredictable. Not to mention it seemed to pick up on his thoughts while he had them, which affected any motion it was going for. So when he had the wooden double dance and started thinking about a kata, the movements became jerky, as if it couldn't tell if it was supposed to dance or fight.

Naruto noted these flaws before a thought struck him. Could he have these things change their shape without touching them? 'I mean, controlling their motions is in a sense controlling their shape. Yeah, I think I can.' He thought before focusing on the appearance of his creation.

To test it, he had it try to morph into Sasuke. The result was something akin to a Hannya with a hemorrhoid problem.

'Close enough.' He joked to himself, unable to resist. Once the humor passed, he donned a more serious look and tried another test for his clone.

At first, mere thorns appeared over the wooden double's body. But he persisted and genuine spikes formed all around, making the wooden double little different than a walking wooden pincushion. Naruto had it retract wooden spikes. Once the wooden double had completed it's task, he then had it attempt to make a sharp, wooden stake come out of it's hand. The hand of the double instead morphed into a wooden spike itself, with small grooves implicating where the fingers had been.

'Not what I had in mind, but nice to know.' Naruto thought.

He then had it return it's hand to normal and tried to have it create a smaller wooden spike, one small enough to fit into the palm of it's hand. This time a spike came out of the palm, one that looked like an ice cream cone.

'That's more like it.' Naruto thought, satisfied.

Naruto then thought of something. He had it retract the spike, then focused on trying to have it fire it out of it's palm. The wood double, reformed back to Naruto's appearance since the Hannya look was bothering him, pulled back its arm then shot out its palm, as if throwing something. A spike formed but failed to separate, and the thrust unfortunately made the clone fall face-first on the ground.

'Alright, got to work on that as well as keeping these things sturdy as they move.' The whiskered blonde noted.

Deciding he'd had enough experimenting for now, Naruto then began to think over what else he'd learned outside of the Academy that he could go over. In doing so, he began to think about the two people he learned those skills from, a sad smile crossing his face at the thought of the first one and a suspicious frown replacing it at the thought of the second.

'I think I'm done here for now.' Naruto thought before trying to mentally turn his wooden construct back into a tree. It sprouted some branches and leaves, but did nothing else. With a sigh, Naruto put his hand on it and tried to revert its form that way. This way actually worked, and it was a simple short tree again.

'Note to self: Remember to be touching the trees when turning them back to normal until I get the hang of doing it without touching them...' He thought. 'Now that that's done, let's focus on some actual fighting training.' He told himself before making a cross hand seal and generating a dozen shadow clones. "Surprise me." He told them.

Half of the clones disappeared into the trees while the other half began to surround him. Once they had him surrounded, one clone drew a kunai and lunged at Naruto with the intent of stabbing him with it. Of course the mere fact that the clone had a kunai meant that Naruto had one as well and he was able to block this. Of course, this also meant that all together the clones had more kunai and arms than the original did and he was leaving a lot of opening for them to attack him right then and there.

The clones then began to attack en mass, one after the other. They started by attacking all at once, hoping to catch him unawares and overwhelm him with a numbers advantage. Naruto was more than expecting this method, he was counting on it. Grabbing the clone he was blocking an attack from, he lifted it and swung it like a hammer at the other clones. Most of the other clones ducked the swing, with the exception of the first two who got hit and sent flying wile being dispelled midway.

The other three ducked under the swing and got ready to throw their kunai at the original at close range. Naruto released his weapon and lunged at the remaining three, throwing off their initial intention for a bit. Their kunai all went off course and impaled themselves into a tree behind Naruto off to the side. Using the clones' momentary distraction to his advantage, Naruto channeled chakra into the bottom of his foot. Naruto used it to make the kunai he dropped stick to the soles of his sandals and used that grip on it to send the kunai flying towards the head of the nearest clone.

The kunai stabbed into the clone's face upon impact, dispelling it. The remaining two clones tried to get the original in a lunging pincer move, each with a kunai. But Naruto had been on the receiving end of these set-ups before on the days his disapprovers got bolder, so he knew how to escape. Naruto grabbed a rock at threw it at one of the clones. The clone blocked it, but that slowed it down, destroying the attack pattern since the two sides were no longer moving together and allowing Naruto to fight the other clone directly for a moment.

Naruto swept the other clone's feet out from under it and, using it's own weight against it, kicked it into the other. This caused them both to disperse, leaving Naruto alone. But he knew the exercise wasn't done. Not by half. Suddenly, a barrage of kunai and shuriken came at him from four different directions from within the trees.

'That's more like it!' He thought, figuring out his clones plans. Wasn't difficult, since they thought exactly the same way he did. Not wanting to use ninjutsu to handle this, Naruto decided to enact some advice given to him by one of his former mentors. 'If you can't fight, then dodge. If you can't dodge, then block. If you can't block, then fight.'

At the time it, confused him to no end. Then he realized it wasn't advice you were supposed to analyze, just react to. He did that this time by first jumping backwards to avoid being hit by any of the kunai. Naruto pulled out a second kunai and used it to block the rest of the kunai and shuriken coming at him. He then began using as little of his chakra as possible to make one of the kunai he deflected stick to his foot and threw it right where it came from as hard as he could.

'Judging from the smoke, I'd say I got one.' Naruto thought as a puff of smoke went off in the direction he sent the kunai sailing in, pleased with his good aim. 'But now they're going to try something else.'

Naruto soon heard something and looked up to see a clone coming down at him from above, a kunai in hand. Naruto tried to dodge, but found that he couldn't move. Looking down, he saw that another clone had burrowed underground and was holding him by his ankles. 'Can't dodge, so I'll block!' Naruto thought before taking out another kunai and swinging it at the clone when it got close, the two metal weapons bracing each other.

But since Naruto was holding the original and the clone was holding a copy, the copy kunai split and left the clone Naruto vulnerable to being impaled, thus killing it. Naruto then switched his kunai into a reverse-handed grip and sliced off one of the hands of the clone holding his ankles from underground, causing the entire clone to disappear in a puff of smoke. 'That should be three. How many are left?' Naruto asked himself, bracing himself and keeping his senses alert for continuing attacks.

Soon, he thought he felt something behind him. Turning, he looked to see a clone about to try and stab him with a kunai. He grabbed it's arm to block it before throwing it over his shoulder and to the ground, dispelling it upon impact. Naruto almost missed the approaching footsteps of another clone trying to attack him while his hands had been full. Even if that was true, Naruto still had his legs.

He pivoted on one and thrust out the other, resulting in a kick directly to the clone's unguarded stomach. The clone dispelled upon the kick and Naruto planted his foot back onto the ground. Hearing something coming his way from behind him, Naruto pivoted on the balls of his feet, dodging an attempted slash from the clone.

'So many attacks from my blind spot, am I really this uncreative?' Naruto asked himself. He then knelt down and sprang forward, but the clone anticipated this and dodged him. This forced Naruto to stop himself and turn around, the two now facing each other. 'Now it's getting more interesting.'

The two, clone and original, began to trade blows. When one would strike, the other would bock. And when one would block, the other would strike. The original Naruto tried to sweep the clone's feet out from under him. But the clone anticipated this and leaped to dodge it before attempting to hit the original Naruto with an ax kick. Naruto just blocked the kick with his arm and grabbed the clone's leg, gripping it tight by the ankle.

Undeterred, the clone threw a shuriken at Naruto, which he could only block at this range. Fortunately the throwing weapon didn't have the distance or velocity needed to do anything more than give Naruto's sleeve a good rip. Grabbing the thrown shuriken, Naruto threw it back as hard and as fast as he could while channeling chakra into his feet in preparation to jump if need be. The clone did not predict this, mostly because no one ever really anticipates their weapon being thrown back at them in battle, and got hit in the neck, dispelling it and leaving Naruto alone. 'Is that all of them? I lost count.' Naruto thought.

Suddenly, Naruto heard a whistling sound followed by a hissing. Turning his head, he looked to see a shuriken with an exploding tag attached to it sailing his way. 'Oh shi-' Was all Naruto could think as he leaped in an attempt to get away, getting out of the way of the shuriken. But this leap failed to help him get out of the range if the explosion caused by the tag going off.

The explosion was small but enough to make Naruto go flying out of the area and away from the clone. He landed rolling and soon hit a tree, but it was a manageable level of pain for him. Aching, he moved himself to sit up against the tree. 'Damn, I just hope no one noticed that explosion. How am I going to explain that one?' He decided to save such thoughts for later as the clone sent a barrage of shuriken at him, leaping aside while going into a tuck-and-roll. Naruto got up on one knee at the end of the roll and threw a couple of shuriken at the clone.

The clone was able to easily dodge them all and surprised Naruto by starting a set of hand signs. This training was supposed to be strictly taijutsu and weapons, but apparently this clone decided to break the rules. The clone placed his hands on the ground and from it burst a wave of wood spikes coming right for Naruto, a tactic he got the idea for after reading a description of Hashirama's jutsu. Naruto leaped into the air to dodge over the wooden spikes, then began leaping from tree to tree around the clone to confuse it and keep himself from being hit by the wooden spikes. Finally, he got a lucky moment.

He was right behind the clone and had the momentum to attack it from behind just like they had been doing to him all this time. He bounded off a tree and practically rocketed at the clone. The clone turned around as fast as it could, but it would be for naught. Naruto slammed his hitai-ate covered forehead into the clone's face, dispersing it on impact, before going into a roll and springing to his feet at the end of the roll.

'That was a nice work-out.' Naruto told himself. 'And that's probably enough. I should head back before anyone comes looking for that blast earlier.'

He began to brush himself off, but then felt a slight exhaustion start to overtake him a bit. 'Maybe I should rest a bit first.' He thought, not feeling like heading back at them moment anyway. With that, he sat down and leaned against a tree trunk, then closed his eyes for a bit. As he rested, he began to get lost in his memories. To be exact, his favorite memories of what had happened the last few years since he discovered he had the Mokuton.

*Flashback*

A six year old Naruto was on his way to practice more with his Mokuton, trying to come up with new ways to make things out of wood. 'Hm... I wonder if I could find a way to make a wooden spear that can actually cut...?' Naruto thought to himself, going over different possibilities in his head.

There was a sudden shout in the air, cutting off his thoughts. 'That sounded like a girl! She might be in trouble!' Without hesitation he headed for where the shout came from, hoping that this time he wouldn't encounter a kid who decided they liked the bully more than they liked him. Sad as it is to believe, that HAD happened before.

Once Naruto arrived at his destination, he was surprised to see three older boys picking on a girl his age. They made her get down on her knees and bow to them.

"Think you're so special now, Ms. High-And-Mighty?" One of the boys said condescendingly.

Another boy kicked dust in her face, forcing her to look away so Naruto couldn't identify her beyond the fact she had dark hair. "Yeah, not so tough now are you?" The same boy taunted. "C'mon, show us that unbeatable trick your clan never stops bragging about. Show us what makes you so tough. Or are all you all a bunch of liars?"

"That's what they are, liars who are afraid to get their hands dirty. No real ninja would go around wearing silk like they're some kind of daimyo. They're posers. I hate posers." The third boy declared, then grabbed the girl's hair. "Know what we do to posers?"

Before he could say more, the first boy got hit with something in the back of his head. The boy rubbed the back of his head and looked to see what hit him in the back of his head. He saw that it was a rock. Looking behind him, he looked to see that Naruto was the one that threw it.

"Hey! leave her alone!" Naruto yelled, more rocks already in hand and ready to be thrown.

"Who's going to make us? You?" The first boy objected, still rubbing his head.

"You see anyone else here?" Naruto stated firmly, bothered by how there were no adults around trying to stop this before him. Was every kid in Konoha allowed free reign except him?

"You think you can stop us?" The third boy asked, releasing the girl's hair. "I heard about you. You're too weak to even throw a punch right."

"Well at least I'm no coward like you three!" Naruto retorted.

"What did you just say?" The first boy asked, his eyes darkening.

Naruto tossed a rock in his hand but didn't throw it. "Look at us right now. There's me, one person standing up to three guys older than him and not backing down, and there's you, three guys kicking a girl when she's down and feeling proud of it. Which one of us is the coward here?"

"That's it!" The second boy said, taking out a kunai the others didn't know he had and brandishing it.

Naruto threw the rock as hard as he could, making it hit the second boy's hand and causing him to drop the kunai due to the pain in his hand. Naruto then threw another rock at the kunai on the ground to knock it away. "I'm curious, what exactly did you bring that lethal weapon here for if she was your target?" He asked, his voice hiding his anger but his eyes were broadcasting it loud and clear.

The second boy glared at Naruto with his lips curled into a snarl as he held his throbbing hand. "What's it to you, anyway?" The boy spat angrily.

"What, I need a reason to protect a girl from bullies with knives?" Naruto replied.

The boys glared at Naruto and began to step towards him.

"You better get lost, squirt!" The first boy said as he punched his fist into his other palm.

"Yeah! If you don't wanna get hurt, then hit the road!" The third boy told him while cracking his knuckles.

"You talk like I'm actually supposed to be scared of you! Why should I be afraid of wimps who can only fight a girl when they outnumber her?" Naruto replied, stepping forward to show his resolve.

The older boys clenched their fists tightly and rushed right at Naruto, eager to beat him to a pulp for his insults.

Tempted to show off his Mokuton, Naruto started to clasp his hands together, but stopped himself. 'No, not yet.'

He settled for rushing back at them with his own fists clenched. If they were going to take him down, he was going to make them work for it. As soon as they got close, the second boy, the one Naruto threw a rock at, lashed out at Naruto with a kick aimed at his left knee. Naruto swerved to his right, avoiding the hit and forcing out his left arm to punch said boy in the chest.

Due to how much weaker Naruto was than the older boy physically, it didn't hurt as much as he would have liked. But it still got the older boy to wince and pull back. However, Naruto was soon surprised by a kick to the stomach by the first boy, dropping him to his knees. Third boy followed up on his friend's kick with a kick to Naruto's back, dropping Naruto to the ground.

"We took down the girl! What made you think you stood a chance?" The third boy all but shouted.

Naruto smirked and looked up at the third boy before saying "Because I fight dirty when it comes to jerks like you!"

He then grabbed a large about of dirt and threw some of it into the face of each older boy, temporarily blinding them while causing the third boy to stumble away from him.

"That's a cheap shot!" The third boy snapped, trying to rub the dirt out of his eyes.

"This is a ninja village! What do you expect?" Naruto countered, punching him in the nose while he had the chance.

Naruto thought he heard a crunch when he punched the third boy in the nose, but paid it no mind as he turned his attention to the first boy. Thinking quickly, he tripped the first boy's feet out from under him while aiming to use the momentum to help him hit the older boy with a knee to the stomach.

Then from behind him the second boy come at him, kunai back in hand. "Take this you ass!"

Naruto turned away from the boy he just fought and face the one coming at him with the kunai. The boy with the kunai slashed out with it. Naruto dodged aside, but that left his wide open to a kick to the back of the knee. The boy behind him delivered exactly that, forcing Naruto to the ground. Before he could roll or jump back on his feet, the second boy stomped on his spine like he was trying to snap it.

Naruto cried out in pain and tried to force the older boy's foot off of him. This made the boy smirk more, and dig his heel into the whiskered blonde's backbone. "How does it feel being dirt under my shoes tough guy? How does being treated like what you're worth feel?"

Naruto grimaced and glared at him. "You can tell me after I beat you senseless!"

The boy snarled at Naruto and stomped down on his spine again, except much harder this time. "You're gonna regret that, you cocky little shit!" The older boy yelled, livid.

The two other boys joined in, stomping on him in succession like it was some kind of game. One even tried to stomp on his hand, but Naruto grabbed it.

"Let go of me you freak!" He ordered, trying to shake him off.

"HEY!"

The three boys stopped their game and turned as one to see the newcomer, an angry adult woman. She was young, but too old to be a teenager. Likely a jounin even though she dressed in a dress and blouse that screamed 'mother' to the boys. They briefly wondered if she was Naruto's mother, but dismissed the thought. She looked nothing like him, she had long straight black hair and black eyes with a more gentle face. Plus the black eyes were a strong indicator of what family she belonged to.

"What the hell are you three doing?" She demanded, hands on her hips sternly.

"Get lost! We don't have to answer to any clan ninja!" The most arrogant of the boys said firmly, while the other two were rather nervous at finally being caught.

The woman gained a fierce glare in her eyes upon hearing the disrespectful tone of the arrogant boy, causing the other two to become more nervous.

"Oh you don't, do you?" She challenged, crossing her arms.

"That's right!" He challenged back, refusing to back down.

"So, if I were to get tough on you and do what your mother should have done a long time ago, how exactly would you stop me?" She asked.

The boy smirked and crossed his own arms confidently. "I'd like to see you try it, Clan-Bitch!" The boy shot back arrogantly.

"Thank you for your permission." She said before rushing at him with jounin speed and grabbing him, lifting him up then putting him over her knee as soon as she sat down, then proceeded to spank his rear red. The boy was surprised by this and began to release a scream each time her hand struck his rear end. The other two boys as well as Naruto and the young girl could only watch in morbid fascination as the jounin-level mother continued to use her hand to paddle the boy's butt until it was bright red underneath his pants.

"Stop!" The boy yelled.

"Say you're sorry!" She yelled back.

The boy instead looked at his friends. "Do something!" To his surprise they simply stepped back, as if afraid of being spanked as soon as she stopped. She continued to spank him until tears began to come to his eyes from the pain. Finally, he reached his limit and couldn't bare the pain anymore. "Alright, alright! I'm sorry!"

"Sorry for what?" She asked, slowing down but not stopping.

"I'm sorry for picking on the Hyuuga girl and attacking the blond kid for defending her! Now please stop!" The boy screamed out, desperate for it to end.

"Promise not to do it again?" She asked him, still not stopping

"Yes!" He replied, only wanting her to stop.

"Good!" She then stopped. "Because if you do this again, I will find you, and you will not like what I do when a spanking isn't enough!"

The boy paled, scared of what she would do in that situation. "I won't do it again, I swear!"

The woman put him down and patted him on the head. "Good!"

The boy began hopping up and down while holding his bottom due to the pain he was in. His friends started to chuckle at the sight, but stopped and paled when the woman turned her attention to them. "That goes for you two, as well! I don't want any 'We didn't promise anything' to come from you.!If either of these kids are picked on again, I will know it was you, and I imagine the head of the Hyuuga won't like knowing that three boys decided to torment his daughter for sport!"

The three boys paled when they heard this. They knew they'd been picking on a Hyuuga, but they'd had _no_ idea that the girl they were picking on was the clan's heiress. The idea of having the head of the clan after them, _especially_ if he was anything like this woman, made the boy who got spanked by her feel like he was going to wet himself. Rather than risk getting in more trouble, the three boys chose to run home faster than any baseball player ever wanted to. In the process, they ran past another adult, only noticing him enough to avoid running into him. Had they looked up, they would have noticed that the man was a Hyuuga, just like the girl they'd been picking on before Naruto showed up.

The first thing the man noticed was the heiress on the ground. Granted, she was on her hands and knees, but she was down and her clothes ruffled and dirty, clearly the result of a fight of some degree. "Hinata!" He shouted in worry before rushing to her. "Are you alright?"

Seeing that the girl was being cared for, the motherly woman decided to tend to Naruto. "Are you okay, little boy?"

"Umm... yeah?" He said, like somehow that might have been the wrong answer.

The woman smiled down at him. "Good. Do you need some help getting up?" She asked. Naruto froze for a moment, his eyes showing fear. "Relax, if I was going to spank you too I would have just grabbed you, wouldn't I?"

Naruto relaxed a bit, but still didn't let his guard down. Just because she wasn't going to spank him didn't mean she wouldn't try something else if he let himself get caught unawares.

"Anything still hurt, Naruto?" She asked.

He blinked. "How do you know my name?"

The woman smirked playfully. "Almost every adult in town knows your name, Naruto. I just happen to be one of them."

"You there! Boy!" They both turned to the Hyuuga man calling out to Naruto, helping the young girl up but clearly trying to keep her from being any closer to Naruto than she had to be.

Right then and there Naruto could get a good look at them both. The young girl was a little bit shorter than him and had white eyes and blue-tinted black hair cut in a hime style, though he didn't know haircut styles had names. She wore a lilac-colored kimono with beige sleeves and a red obi but both were covered with dirt now and some of the fabric looked ripped in some spots. The man had white eyes too but his hair was brown and in spikes, not unlike Naruto's and was dressed in a plain black kimono.

"What did you do to Hinata?" The man asked sternly.

"Do to her?" Naruto asked, surprised by the accusation. "Didn't you see three boys running? They were the ones picking on her! I made them leave her alone!"

"Why should I believe you?" The man asked, seeming to not believe the young blond's words.

The woman stood up and glared at him. "Because I saw the whole thing and started to make my way over once they started ganging up on him!" She stated, coming to Naruto's defense.

The Hyuuga looked at her. "Why are you defending him? Do you know who he is?"

"Yes I do, but why does that matter here? It doesn't change the fact that he protected the girl from three boys, one of which had a kunai mind you." The woman told the Hyuuga.

The Hyuuga man's eyes widened at the mentioning of one of them having a kunai. He turned towards Naruto and looked him in the eyes. "Is this true, boy? Did one of them really have a kunai?" He sounded unsure, as if he didn't know if he wanted to know if it was true or not.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah! If I hadn't showed up, there's a chance he would have pulled it out to use on her instead of pulling it out to try to use it on me!"

The Hyuuga man looked Naruto dead in the eyes and watched his body language as the blond boy said these words. Just from this alone, he was able to easily determine that the boy was telling the truth. Or, at least, what he felt was the truth. "Alright, I'll accept that you were just trying to protect Hinata, but then why were they running in terror from you?"

"They were running from her." He said, pointing to the woman he hadn't caught the name of.

The Hyuuga looked to her and she nodded. "If those kids think it's okay for the older to pick on the younger, then it's time they got to see what it's like being on the receiving end."

The man nodded his agreement at her words, then turned to face Naruto. "It appears I owe you both an apology and my gratitude, boy."

"Your what?" Naruto asked, unfamiliar with the terms.

"He's saying thank you Naruto." The mother clarified.

"Oh, well you're welcome." He said, then looked at the girl. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing I haven't gotten in training. But they might have done more had you not shown up. Thank you so much." She stuttered out.

Naruto smiled and scratched his cheek nervously. "Heheheh... it was nothing, really! I just can't stand to see someone being bullied, is all!"

"Even so, I'd appreciate it if you weren't around Hinata if you don't have to be." The Hyuuga added.

"What?" All three of the others asked.

"It's nothing personal, boy. It's merely because it would be bad for the Hyuuga's reputation for her to be seen with you, due to how unpopular you are with the rest of the village." The Hyuuga elaborated.

The woman frowned deeply. "So just because people might say bad things about _you_, you refuse to let this girl have any interaction with her hero?"

"Like you would do anything different if we were talking about your child." The Hyuuga countered.

The woman's frown deepened. "As a matter of fact, I would! And I wonder how Hiashi-sama is going to take it if he finds out that you aren't willing to let his daughter have any interaction with the boy who saved her _just_ for that!"

"Hiashi-sama will agree with me." The man said stoicly, but confidently.

"Alright then, if you're so sure, then let him agree to our faces." The woman said.

"Pardon?" The Hyuuga asked.

"If you're so sure that he's going to forbid any interaction between them, then I think the boy and I both deserve to hear it from himself." The woman insisted.

The Hyuuga frowned. "You have no right to make such a request."

"What's the matter? Afraid you're wrong and will be called out on it?" The woman challenged.

The Hyuuga's frown deepened before he scoffed. "Very well. We'll take this up with Hiashi-sama and you will see for yourself that I am correct."

*End Flashback*

Naruto found himself slowly opening his eyes, as if they no longer wanted to stay closed. "How long was I out?" He asked himself, rubbing them and stretching his arms a bit.

Looking up at the sky, Naruto noticed that it was much darker than it was before.

"Hope Kakashi-sensei doesn't kill me for being out so late! And I hope there's some food left for me!" He said as he got on his feet and brushed off some dust before heading back to the house. "Wait, can't forget this." He said as he remembered to grab his kunai that he used during the fight with his clones and pocketed them. Satisfied he hadn't forgotten anything else, he went back to leaving.

_**To Be Continued...**_

**Yeah... not as good an ending as last time. But still, better than nothing. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Review if you feel like and have a nice day. Aloha, shaka, and peace out, readers!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Yo! Sup? Yo! Sorry that this chapter took a while. I've had a busy week and a lot of stuff got in the way. Plus, I'm working on a collaboration fic with brown phantom and Spyrofan7777 and will be working on one other fic besides this one and the collaboration fic as well. Anyway, onto the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Now make the voices stop telling me to make it mine!**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Direct Quotes from Books/Scrolls'

**Rise of the Yondaime Rikudo Sennin**

**Chapter 2: Beginning to Bloom**

The walk back to Tazuna's house wasn't long in any sense of the word if you were sober and able-bodied, something Tazuna himself wasn't always, but Naruto was in no hurry to get back to it. Being somewhat of a researcher of trees and growing up in a village built into a forest, he was an appreciator of the things Nature had to offer. And right now he was basically experiencing hanami *flower-viewing* without the flowers.

"Naruto? Where the heck have you been!" A girl with bright pink hair and a red dress said loudly, snapping him out of his semi-trance. This person was Haruno Sakura, Naruto's kunoichi teammate and Sasuke's personal but not requested cheerleader.

The aforementioned boy winced at the tone that was so close to being accusing he briefly wondered if he in fact _WAS_ being accused of something. "Didn't Sasuke tell you? I was getting some more training in."

"For two hours?" Sakura asked, skeptical.

"Yes." He said, plain and simple.

Sakura sighed. "That is _just_ like you. Pushing yourself so hard and losing track of time."

Naruto put his hands on his hips. "Well this might come as a surprise to you, Sakura, but I don't want to be the dead last forever, you know! If that means I have to train a hundred times harder than Sasuke just to be considered half as good as his pinkie finger, then so be it!"

Sakura chuckled. "Well, at least you're persistent. But if you're hoping to be as good as Sasuke-kun, you've got a ways to go."

Naruto smirked. "Who said I intend to be as good as him? I intend to be better!"

"Well you've got a looooong way to go." She replied, stretching out the word for emphasis. Fortunately her tone wasn't demeaning, more unsupportive than anything else.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Geez, Sakura! Way to be supportive."

"I'm just being realistic." She stated.

"Well you could at least be _nice_ about it, as well as realistic." Naruto told her.

"And you could at least not be out all night." She countered in a playful way.

Naruto chuckled a bit at that. "Touché , Sakura."

Sakura gestured to the house. "You better come in and eat before reheating your portion is no longer an option."

Naruto nodded. "Good idea."

The two of them headed inside. But one thing on Naruto's mind at the moment was how well he could get along with Sakura when she wasn't being a _complete_ fangirl over Sasuke. Sure, she got on his nerves when she was like that, but, outside of it, she was kind of easy to get along with once you got past the temper and pretty strong hits. Naruto mentally thanked a certain ramen chef and his daughter for nipping his crush on her in the bud. How they did so was a tale for another day.

Alongside his teammate, Naruto went back inside the house belonging to their client Tazuna. There wasn't a lot inside, since he and his family lived simple due to circumstances beyond their control. But they were able to feed themselves and use electricity sparingly, so that was enough by Naruto's standards.

Once they were inside, Naruto cast his gaze towards the table and spied his portion of the food, ready to be reheated. It was rather simple too, just rice with what looked like fish, but again, by his standards, it was enough. No one else was at the table, though Tazuna was seated on a chair within view of the dining area. So Naruto just went up to the table and sat down, then began to eat. He didn't see Sakura go upstairs to let the rest of their team know Naruto was back.

As he ate, Naruto couldn't help but notice a picture on the wall. It showed Tazuna along with a woman and a young boy, being his daughter Tsunami and her son Inari. But there was another person in the picture, a strong-looking man Naruto hadn't seen in his time here. But the most noticeable thing was that the part of the picture were the man's face would have been had been torn off, leaving only what was left of his body visible.

"Hey, Tazuna-san? What's with that picture over there?" Naruto asked while Sakura and the rest came downstairs. He didn't want to be rude, but his curiosity got the better of him for a moment.

"Yeah, I was curious about that too." Sakura added.

Tazuna looked like he didn't want to answer. "It's not important."

Naruto recognized the look in Tazuna's eyes. He'd seen it in Sasuke's eyes once just after the Uchiha Massacre. It was the look someone had in their eyes after they lost someone important to them, especially if they'd had to watch that person die.

Sakura however didn't catch the look. "If it wasn't important, then why would you put up a photo for it?"

Naruto shot Sakura a look and was about to tell her to drop it. Tazuna, however, beat him to it. "It's a reminder of someone we lost. A day we aren't proud of and can never forget. The photo is to remind me of what I'm fighting for."

Naruto looked at Tazuna. "You don't have to tell us about it if you don't want to, you know."

The old bridge builder shook his head. "No. Since Gato's a part of it and you four are involved now, you deserve to know. To know just what he's capable of."

He sat up and cleared his throat. "The story starts before Gato showed up. You see, Inari never knew his father, mostly because Tsunami herself doesn't know. Or at least she's never said who it was.

"He grew up bothered by it and teased by other boys for it. One day he almost drowned because of it when he was trying to befriend a stray dog. Then a man came along and helped Inari. He was Kaiza, and he became Inari's role model."

Naruto felt his heart go out to Inari at hearing this. He never knew his parents and got picked on for it by other kids a few times. But when he met... them... things started to change. The woman who came to his defense, gave him a glimpse at what it was like to have a mother, protected him from the shadows, and even helped train him. And her son, a boy a few years older than himself, who also helped train him, eventually became something like an older brother to him, and became a role model to him, like Kaiza was to Inari.

Then... _that_ day came. The day when the woman who came to is defense was, in a way, taken from him. The day that, as far as he knew, her own son caused. The day he began to wonder if everything he thought he knew about his role model was a lie. Snapping himself out of it and shaking his head, Naruto refocused on the story, not wanting to miss a thing.

"Because he was able to break Inari out of his shell, we got to know Kaiza as well." Tazuna continued. "After a while he was practically family to us, and while it might have been just wishful thinking on Inari's part, I must say that if things hadn't been interrupted he might have become my grandson's legal father." He smiled for a moment, but lost it.

"Then Gato came along. He began his reign of economic terror over this entire place. Kaiza did something that Gato did not appreciate. The next day Gato actually executed him in public for it, and no one tried to stop him. Since then it's like everyone is just waiting to die rather than fight back, and a part of Inari died with Kaiza, because he hasn't smiled since."

Naruto felt his fists clench until he drew blood at hearing this. Naruto understood that Inari never got over this... it explained why when he had seen the young boy he looked like they were useless and why when he spoke it was laced with restrained anger. Having your role model and potential father killed because some greedy tycoon had a whim was bound to make anybody in a bad mood. But still, that was _no_ excuse for acting the way he was.

By just staying in a bad mood and acting the way he was, and by so many of the villagers not trying to stop Gato, they were all but spitting on Kaiza's death. And they had all been too scared to take Gato on for what they knew was wrong. Basically leaving him to die so they wouldn't have to, so they'd have an excuse to keep wallowing in fear which they had already been doing in the first place. Unconsciously, Naruto slammed his fist onto the table, his head down, his face cast in shadow by his bangs, and his body shaking with rage.

His teammates were so surprised by this that they actually jumped at the sound. Sasuke didn't show much outward reaction, but, inwardly, he was shocked. Even if Naruto was a bit of a happy-go-lucky idiot sometimes, he was generally pretty calm. But Sasuke could tell, from the way his rival's body was tensed and shaking, that Naruto was _anything_ but calm right now.

Outside of his one eye visible eye widening, Kakashi didn't show much more reaction than Sasuke did. Going by what he'd heard from Iruka, Naruto was much more level-headed than most of the villagers in Konoha gave him credit for. In a way, Naruto was sort of like a mix between his parents and Itachi. As far as even Iruka had known, from what Iruka himself had told Kakashi, Naruto getting mad was a rarity.

Sakura, however, was showing the most reaction. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open in an O, with her hand covering it. In all the time she had known Naruto, she couldn't remember a time he had been mad in any sense of the world. Heck, sometimes she almost thought he was incapable of anger.

"Naruto?" Sakura managed to make herself say, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know what his reaction was.

Naruto suddenly stood up, his chair loudly being pushed back as he did so. Naruto grabbed the rest of his food and turned away from his team, then began to head towards the door. "I need some air...!"

No one bothered to stop him.

"What was that?" Sakura asked a good five seconds after they heard the door close.

"That was the side of Naruto he doesn't show everyone." Kakashi said.

"Inari was like that when everything really got bad. My guess is that boy knows a good thing or two about tragedy himself." Tazuna mused.

Sasuke nodded at that. He felt that Naruto couldn't _truly_ understand his pain, but he did acknowledge that his blond teammate had known his own kind of pain. And Naruto also knew a pain that they shared. The pain of loneliness.

"But what would Naruto know of tragedy?" Sakura innocently asked. When tragedy came to mind for her, she associated Sasuke with that first. To her, the words 'Naruto' and 'tragic' in the same sentence was just... unlikely.

"Being an orphan comes to mind." Kakashi commented.

"Not having parents to drive you crazy? Unless they were killed, that doesn't sound so bad to me." She stated.

"Would you say that if it meant you never knew who they were to begin with?" Kakashi asked. "Whether they're still alive or not? Whether they wanted you in their lives to begin with?"

"Whether they'd be proud of who you are now or not." Sasuke couldn't help saying low, but it was still heard.

Kakashi nodded. "Sakura, no matter how many times you may have wished your parents would leave you alone, you never actually wanted them to disappear from the face of the earth, did you?" She shook her head without hesitation. "So imagine if they did. Just up and vanished, never to return again.

"And imagine there was no one around to take their place. No one to make sure you were fed, clothed, and sheltered each day and night. Imagine how you'd live when every time you have a question there's no one there to give you an answer. Now imagine this is the only life you've ever known. Would you consider that not so bad?"

"No." She admitted.

"Then Naruto really does know tragedy, doesn't he?" Kakashi asked rhetorically.

Sakura sighed and nodded, feeling bad for her blond teammate.

Outside, Naruto went around the house and into a different section of the forest, knowing that heading right back where he had been would have been the first place people would have looked for him. And because he was much better at tree-walking than he let on, it was easy for him to get up and into a branch to avoid being on the ground. Once there he finished his food quickly and used a small Mokuton jutsu to move the nearby branches to hold the plate for him.

'I'm starting to realize how someone like Gato could just show up and take control of a place like this. It's not much of an invasion if no one bothers to fight back. They actually kind of brought all of this upon themselves by being too scared to fight back, even if none of them deserve to have all of this happen to them.' Naruto thought. 'But refusing to stop abuse is no different than allowing it to continue.'

Those words were once said to him by a good friend, and it tied into what he had been dreaming about earlier. The young boy let his mind drift back to that moment in his life, in hopes that it would take his mind off the negativity currently plaguing it.

*Flashback*

Hinata's caretaker, now identified as Hyuuga Kou of the Main House, though Naruto just caught the name Kou, was leading him and the black-haired woman to the Hyuuga estate. Hinata looked nervous and Naruto didn't know what was going on, while the older woman holding his hand showed her resolve in her stand on the issue that was to be discussed to the clan head. Naruto looked at Hinata and noticed how nervous she looked.

'Why is she nervous? We're just going to see her father. What kid is afraid of their parent?' He asked.

Since Naruto didn't have any family himself nor any family to learn from, he had a bit of a view regarding them that was either naive or idealistic, depending on your view of it. To him, the idea that a child was uncomfortable around their parent was as unthinkable as the idea that water was dry. Naruto's current company noticed how uncomfortable Hinata was and the look Naruto was giving her. Going off of what she'd heard and seen, as well as what she knew, it wasn't hard to put two and two together.

Naruto tugged at the older woman's hand. "Yes?" She asked.

"I hope this isn't rude, but could you tell me your name? I never caught it." He requested in a whisper.

She nodded. "Alright. I'm Uchiha Mikoto."

"If you don't mind my asking, Uchiha-san... why're you doing this?" Naruto asked, trying not to offend her.

"Well, part of it is because, as a mother, I don't like seeing a child being antagonized in such an uncalled for way. But another part is..." She was tempted to say he reminded her of someone, which he did, but explaining who and why would have been impossible. "...well, whenever I see someone else suffer I ask myself one thing. What if it had been me?"

Naruto smiled a bit. "I do the same thing!" Mikoto smiled back, glad he wasn't so nervous anymore.

They soon arrived at the entry to the Hyuuga estate. Like the Uchiha compound, this was walled off from the rest of Konoha outside, but the ground inside was smaller by comparison, composed entirely of residents and dojos with some outdoor gardens. Hyuuga all had to go out into Konoha to do any business, unlike the Uchiha, who had businesses in their district too so an Uchiha could live their entire lives without leaving it if they wanted to. Not that such a choice was a good one.

There were guards there at the entry, designed to keep people from walking in uninvited. They recognized Kou and Hinata but did not expect them to bring company.

"A meeting with Hiashi-sama has been requested by this woman." Kou stated, sounding like he was making an effort not to reference her by name.

The guards soon noticed Naruto and cast a stoic look towards him. But, if one looked closely, you would see a slightly confused glint in their eyes. "And the boy?" One of the guards asked.

"Apparently, she has claimed him as her guest." Kou responded, as if he couldn't wrap his head around the concept anymore than they could.

The guards nodded, the confused glint still in their eyes, and let them pass while turning their attention forward. Mikoto took ahold of Naruto's hand as they walked in, both to calm him down and keep him from running off for whatever reason he might. The four of them then began their trek to Hiashi's office. On the way there, Naruto could feel the eyes of everyone they passed boring into his back. However, unlike the looks he usually got, these felt more confused and curious than hate-filled.

Kou stopped before a door and knocked. "Hiashi-sama, there is someone requesting to speak with you regarding your daughter."

There was a pause before a response. "In what context?"

"It is a long story that you might prefer not said where others can hear it." Kou specified.

"Very well. Enter." The voice from before called.

Kou opened the door and went in, making Hinata go in too. Mikoto went in and made Naruto do the same. The office was more like a study room than what the Hokage had. Almost as if it could function as a small library too, implying that Hiashi enjoyed reading when he wasn't being a clan leader.

He looked and saw his daughter covered in dirt, and didn't know how to react. Sure she was the heiress so she was expected to maintain a certain image, but she was also supposed to learn to be a ninja, so getting messy came with the territory. Then he saw Mikoto and Naruto, and really didn't know how to react.

Hiashi looked at Kou. "I assume that the long story you mentioned has to do with why my daughter is covered in dirt, as well as why the Uzumaki boy and the Uchiha matriarch are here with you?"

"It indeed does." Kou said.

Hiashi crossed his arms. "So who exactly requested my presence?"

"I did." Mikoto claimed.

"So please explain what is the matter." Hiashi stated.

"The important thing for you to know is your daughter was out alone and three strange boys were bullying her. One of them was even armed with a kunai, according to a witness. Naruto here got them to stop and defended her, then I came along and got rid of them." Mikoto told him.

"Then Hyuuga-san here showed up and expressed gratitude for Naruto's actions, but practically ordered the boy to never again be near the girl. Tell me, Hiashi-sama, is this how the Hyuuga clan treats those that help them? By telling them to get lost?" She continued.

Rather than answer, Hiashi looked to the other Hyuuga male in the room. "Tell me Kou, why was my daughter unsupervised, even for a moment?"

Kou gained a worried look at this. "U-um... w-well, Hiashi-sama... y-you see..."

Hiashi narrowed his eyes, not liking the fact that Kou was trying to make an excuse rather than give an explanation. "Perhaps I was wrong to make you her guardian."

"But Hiashi-sama, I saw to her as soon as I could find her." Kou stated, trying to defend himself from any assault.

"The mere fact that you lost her is reason enough for me to not take anything you say seriously here." Hiashi stated firmly.

"Then take this seriously if nothing else. You know the reputation of the boy. You want your daughter to be a pariah by association if she is not taught to ignore everything about him?" Kou defended.

Mikoto glared at the fumbling man. "He was doing your job for you and you dare have the nerve to say that Naruto is the one Hinata cannot trust her safety to?"

"She does have a point, Kou." Hiashi commented.

Kou paled and was beginning to grow more and more nervous. This was _not_ going how he expected it to. Not by a _long_ shot.

"But still, this does not explain exactly why you are here, Uchiha-san. Surely telling your side of the story is not enough." Hiashi added.

Mikoto grinned lightly. "I'm here to defend what this man was trying to destroy. The fact of the matter is Naruto here did defend your daughter. He may not have been your first choice of defender, but he was the one to do this.

"But her guardian wanted them both to pretend this never happened and I took offense at that. Clan matters aside Hiashi-sama, is that what you want these children to learn? Do you want your daughter to believe that whenever someone does something nice to her she supposed to toss them aside? Do you want this boy to believe that next time your daughter is in trouble he should ignore her because to him good deeds are punished?"

"I would prefer it if Hinata was able to defend herself." Hiashi stated.

Mikoto rolled her eyes. "And I'd prefer it if chocolate was free every time I had my cycle. But we cannot base our decisions on how things should be in a perfect world, Hiashi-sama. We live in an imperfect world, and not every decision available to us is a comfortable one to make."

"Neither do we always have the luxury of only having answers that fix everything. While your daughter can get strong, that does not mean she should isolate herself from this boy nor should he be afraid to help her when she needs it. Refusing to stop abuse is no different than allowing it to continue. So are you going to tell this boy who saved your daughter that he did a bad thing?"

Hiashi nodded. "You have a point, Uchiha-san. Besides, it would not be good for the Hyuuga clan's reputation should people begin to believe that we simply disregard those that help us."

"But won't it be sullied more if people learn that your heiress is associating with..." Kou started, but couldn't finish.

Naruto frowned, offended that this man who he had never met in his life seemed to act like he wished Naruto lived anywhere but Konoha simply because he _was_ Naruto. Hinata didn't frown, but she was also upset that her caretaker didn't seem to know what he wanted yet expected Hiashi to just agree with him.

"Hyuuga-san," Mikoto said, speaking directly to Kou. "Perhaps you'd like to look at this girl directly in the eyes and tell her what it is about this boy she should be so afraid of. Because if you can't, why should she fear him?"

Kou frowned, knowing that she was trying to trap him. If he gave an honest answer he'd risk the Hokage's punishment and even clan policy couldn't shield him from that. If he gave no answer, not only was he forfeiting the argument but losing any form of credibility he might have in the clan head's eyes.

Because of Kou's silence, Hiashi decided to end the discussion. "Rather than argue who is wrong or right here, the fact seems to be clear that my daughter was in danger and this boy, social standing irrelevant, was there to protect her. And it would indeed be a terrible idea to forbid any future interaction between the two for the sake of protecting the best interests of the uninvolved. So I will not forbid any attempts at forging friendship between the two children."

Hiashi then sighed. "But the fact is people will talk, and there can be future attempts to bully my daughter again. So I would prefer it if their public interactions were mostly casual, and the majority of any time together was out of the public eye to draw less attention to themselves. Also, I would prefer it if this time is used to help Hinata get stronger. While I appreciate his bravery, I do not want her developing a dependency on him."

Mikoto raised an eyebrow. "Hiashi-sama, you said you would prefer them meeting away from public. But where exactly can they meet then?"

Hiashi nodded. "Perceptive as always, Uchiha-san. I would prefer it to be places within the compound other than places off-limits to anyone but myself and my immediate family or closest relatives, with all members of the clan being under strict orders to not tell anyone outside the clan until I give them orders saying otherwise. Training grounds outside of the compound and less public parks are also fair game."

Mikoto did not look sated. "You say you want them to meet mostly here. Do I have your word that Naruto would actually be allowed on the grounds?"

Hiashi looked like she had just questioned his honor. "Are you accusing me of something?"

"Not at all, Hiashi-sama. I simply want to get the terms straight and remove any loopholes. You said that you would _prefer_ these children meet only here, but you never said you would _allow_ it. By keeping them apart in public and in private without violating any terms in an agreement, it's what people call a 'Heads I win, tails you lose' situation. One I'm looking to avoid." She elaborated.

"You have my word that the boy will be allowed on the grounds." Hiashi told her, actually respecting how perceptive she could be.

Mikoto smiled. "Good." Naruto smiled too, and Hinata looked happy too since like Naruto she had few people her own age to interact with.

"If that is all, I have important business to attend to. "Hiashi stated.

Mikoto bowed. "Thank you for your time Hiashi-sama. Would you have an opinion regarding the children spending any time together now?"

"As long as neither do something that would bring the Hyuuga's honor, morals, or ethics into question, they may do as they please." Hiashi told her.

Mikoto turned to the young boy. "Then I guess, Naruto, you can play with your new friend as long as you don't break any rules." She then turned to the young girl. "If she'll allow it, that is."

The young girl nodded shyly, smile on her face. She never had any friends due to her status in her clan. But now, apparently, she had a friend. Her first friend.

*End Flashback*

That brought a smile to Naruto's face. The day he gained his first real friend who was secretly his best friend as well. Hinata had been quite helpful in his own training and he in hers. He had helped her with accuracy, stealth, and putting more power into her attacks as well as learning how to shrug off criticism, and she had taught him subtlety, control, and proper fighting instead of impulsive brawling. He trusted her more than he trusted the Hokage sometimes, and she in fact was one of the only people that actually knew he had the Mokuton.

Not even his team knew that, which said a lot about how much he felt he could trust them by comparison. He knew that, in a pinch, he could trust them with his life. His _secrets_, on the other hand, were a different matter entirely. While Naruto may have presented himself as an open book, the fact is few people were privilege to read any further than the first page.

It helped that not many people wanted to know more, but Naruto knew the value of discretion better than any other person his age. The less people knew about him, the less they could use against him. Only the people he felt safe around could know Naruto's secrets. And there was one place in particular in Konoha where Naruto felt safest.

*Flashback*

It was a day after the incident with Hinata, and Naruto was out on the streets again. He never got to do any practice with his Mokuton and wanted to make up for it today.

"Hey there, Naruto!" Someone called to him. He looked and saw it was the woman from yesterday who defended him. "I'm glad I caught you again!"

Naruto cringed. "Please don't say you caught me. I hear drunks say that to me all the time."

"Sorry, poor choice of words." She apologized.

"That's okay Miss..." He started, but found himself for a lose of words.

"Forgot my name, huh?" She teased. "I'm Uchiha Mikoto, remember?"

"Oh yeah! Sorry, Uchiha-san."

She waved off his apology. "It's alright. And I told you that you can just call me Mikoto, remember?

"I just didn't want to be rude." He told her.

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, I thought that since you were nice enough to stand up for that girl like that, that you deserved some kind of reward." She told him.

"I didn't do it for any reward." He clarified.

Mikoto nodded. "Oh I know, but that doesn't mean you can't be given on. C'mon, let me buy you some lunch."

"I really shouldn't." He said.

"It would be rude to refuse someone's offer of kindness." She said kindly, figuring that would crush any objection he might have.

"Well... o-okay, I guess." Naruto said, not one hundred percent sure, but not wanting to be rude.

"I think I know a place that won't have any problem with you being there, if that's what you're worried about." She mentioned, sensing some resistance to the offer lingering. "Follow me."

Naruto felt a little better at hearing that. So, deciding to trust her for now, the young boy looked up at her and nodded. "Lead the way, Mikoto-san!"

Walking down the street, Naruto noticed the looks given were more confused than hostile. Like they couldn't grasp the idea that someone was next to him without trying to make him leave. Mikoto acted as if there was no one on the streets except her and the young boy, which made him feel a little better. She came to a stop by a small stand.

Naruto saw stools by a bench and streamers hanging above the entry, but no one seemed to be inside. He could smell food cooking inside but couldn't identify it. Whatever it was sure smelled good though.

"Here we are." She said before walking in, grabbing his hand to ensure he didn't hesitate or try to leave before he was noticed. Naruto was still a little nervous, but he swallowed his fear and followed her in. Mikoto sat down and had Naruto sit down beside her.

"Anyone back there?" She politely called out.

From the back emerged an older man, possessing a type of grandfather-like face but clearly younger than the Hokage was. "Hi, welcome to... oh hi, Mikoto! It's been a while!" He greeted, seeing the Uchiha matriarch first.

"Yeah, but today seemed like a good day." She said then turned to the blonde boy. "Naruto, this is Ichiraku Teuchi, an old acquaintance of mine from my more active days. He owns this entire restaurant."

"Umm... hi." He greeted, still expecting to be told to leave and never return.

Teuchi recognized him and was glad he was here, making this a great opportunity to try and do something for the poor child. "Hi, there! No need to be afraid. Know what you want or do you need to decide a bit longer?"

"What do you serve?" Naruto asked.

"If you need ideas check out the signs here. They'll tell you everything we offer." He gestured to the wall behind him telling the customers his entire menu.

Naruto looked at the menu and saw everything. Naruto didn't know why, but the ramen items on the menu seemed to draw his attention the most.

"What do you recommend for someone who's never been here before?" He asked.

"I'd say the miso ramen, a good non-specific dish that should tell you how good the other ones are." Teuchi recommended.

Naruto looked to Mikoto who nodded, then looked back to Teuchi. "I'll take one of those, then."

"I'll have my usual." Mikoto added.

"Alright, I'll be back in no time." Teuchi said before going in back to get started.

Naruto smiled slightly. He was actually beginning to feel comfortable here. No here one was glaring at him, no one was giving him disgusted looks. For Naruto, this was practically a dream come true.

"Aren't you glad you accepted my offer now?" Mikoto asked.

Naruto nodded. "But still, why did you offer? No one's ever rewarded me for anything before."

Mikoto smiled a little at him. "Well, I thought it was about time someone did. So I decided to be that someone."

Naruto looked confused. "That's it?"

Mikoto nodded. "To quote you, do I need a reason to be nice to someone else?"

Naruto smiled, a bit embarrassed, and scratched the back of his head. "I guess you're right. Sorry if I sound like I'm not happy, this just doesn't happen to me a lot."

"I understand. But, if I have my way, you'll have it start happening to you more often." Mikoto told him, an understanding smile on her face.

Naruto smiled, glad to hear this. While he knew she was saying this wasn't going to be a daily thing, since she surely had a life of her own and probably a family too, it really meant a lot that she wasn't going to regard him as if giving something to him was a waste of time. It felt good to Naruto to have someone reward him. To have someone treat him like a normal person and not some kind of plague.

Teuchi came out with a bowl in his hands, using a heatpad to keep from burning himself. Next to him was a young pre-teenage girl, maybe 11 or 12 but it was hard for Naruto to be sure, with brown hair covered by a white bandanna. She was dressed in the same way Teuchi was, white clothes with an apron over the front, the only thing not white being their pants, which were grey on Teuchi and dark blue on the girl.

"Here you go." Teuchi said, placing the bowl with chopsticks in front of Naruto while the girl did the same for Mikoto.

"Thanks." He said, pausing to enjoy the smell. It wasn't often he didn't have to check to see if his food wasn't about to spoil or anything.

Naruto grabbed a pair of chopsticks, separated them, thanked Teuchi for the food, and started to try some. He was slightly aware that he was being watched. Looking up, he saw that the older girl was looking at him. But he didn't recognize the look on her face.

"Is something wrong?" He asked before he actually ingested any of the food.

"Oh no, nothing's wrong." She said, waving off his question. She had been thinking about the last time she saw him, but felt bringing it up would only ruin his appetite and he sure didn't need that right now.

Naruto looked at her suspiciously for a moment, but then shrugged it off and tried the food.

When he finally tasted the ramen, there were no words he knew that could accurately describe the flavor. 'Good' didn't seem good enough. And he was strongly tempted to start eating the rest as quick as he could, given how food this tasty was a rare treat for him. But he was Mikoto's guest and therefore had to eat normally or else he'd embarrass her, or make the chef not want him around ever again.

Naruto kept eating, a little faster than before, but still pretty normal by other people's standards.

"Looks like he likes it." Mikoto said.

"Good." Teuchi commented, glad he was able to do this for the boy. "Just so you know Naruto, you can come here anytime you want, even if Mikoto's too busy to bring you."

"Really?" He asked, some noodles still in his mouth.

"Absolutely. Though you will still have to pay for your food and not cause trouble while you're here." Teuchi told him.

Naruto chewed and swallowed the food in his mouth, then nodded. "I understand."

Mikoto joined him in dining and encouraged him to speak up a little, contribute to a conversation. He was hesitant, but with Teuchi and Ayame joining in and avoiding touchy subjects, he found himself relaxing more and more. He talked about some of the things he was learning in the academy, some of the places he had seen around town, and while he wasn't going to mention his Mokuton, he did mention that his current subject of study was Senju Hashirama. She asked the young boy what was it that made Naruto so interested in Hashirama.

"Well, he was the first Hokage. He set the standard for all Hokages to come. I kinda want to know what made him so great that everyone was willing to let him lead a village that was just starting out and trying to get ninja to live together." He answered, still not wanting to blow his cover.

"Well, I think it's a good thing. Not too many kids your age like to learn or study, so it's good to see one who does." Teuchi said, happy to find out that Naruto was so willing and able to learn.

"I don't really like being stuck reading books all day either, but, when that's your only option, what else is there to do?" Naruto commented.

"He got a point, Tousan." Ayame pointed out.

"True, but there's only so much you can learn without them. Never underestimate the value of a good education, Naruto. Even if you never get to use it all." Teuchi said sagely.

Naruto nodded, taking it in. "Got it!"

Mikoto put her hand on Naruto's shoulder. "If you want to be a good student, Naruto, you only need to know one thing." He listened with a lot of interest. "Don't care about popularity.

"Popularity only ruins things. Many students lose track of their skills and suffer because they're more focused on making everyone like them. You can make friends, but one friend you can trust is better than a hundred friends who don't really know anything about you."

The blond boy smiled sadly at that. "Just having one friend would be enough for me, to be honest."

"Well you have one already." Mikoto teased.

Naruto smiled at that and chuckled before looking down at his empty bowl. "Can I get another bowl, please?"

Mikoto nodded. "I can afford two more, maybe three, but no more."

"Oh I doubt he can eat all that." Ayame replied.

Naruto smirked. "Is that a challenge, Ayame-san?"

"No, you should never eat more than you can handle just to prove a point. You'll hurt yourself more than anything if you do something just because someone told you that you couldn't if you tried." The older girl told him.

"Alright. But, to be honest, it's nice to hear someone actually care about my health." Naruto told her.

"Has anyone tried to ruin it?" Ayame asked before she could stop herself. Naruto flinched a bit before looking down and away from her at that question. "Sorry, but the way you said that made me wonder if that had happened."

Naruto sighed. "It's okay. I guess that I was kind of asking for it when I said it that way."

"It's okay. What do you want for your next bowl? The same or something different?" Ayame asked.

Naruto thought it over. "Think I'd like some beef ramen this time."

"Coming right up." Ayame said before she and her father went to work.

Mikoto smiled. "Trying what I just ate, huh?"

"Well, since you liked it, I thought it was worth it." Naruto stated.

"You don't have to sound like you need my permission to order it Naruto. No one here is trying to hurt you." She told him.

"I know that, but it's hard to not be careful." He told her.

"You sure didn't look like you were being careful when you were fighting those bullies the other day." Mikoto pointed out.

"That's different. An innocent girl was being picked on." Naruto countered.

"Then next time you feel like someone is trying to hurt you, just ask yourself what if they were trying to hurt someone else, and use that same bravery to defend yourself." The Uchiha matriarch advised.

Naruto thought it over. It made sense to him, so he decided to give it a try the next time it happened.

"Also, in a similar manner, if you see someone suffering like the young girl was, ask yourself what if that had been you instead, and do for them what you would want someone to do for you." Mikoto added, repeating something she had told him the other day in case he had forgotten it too.

"I think that's pretty much what I was thinking at the time. I just didn't think about it." He mentioned.

Mikoto smiled slightly at that. 'Such a nice boy...! You gave birth to a good kid, Kushina!'

Teuchi and Ayame came out quicker this time, as if they had some ramen pre-made for the young boy, and gave it to him. Mikoto was still on her first bowl and unlikely to order a second. Naruto thanked them for the second bowl and started on it.

"Not bad. I can see why you would order this a lot, Mikoto-san." He said in between bites.

"Looks like you've got a repeat customer Teuchi." Mikoto told the chef.

Teuchi smiled at the idea of seeing the young blond boy visit his stand more. "Come around often enough and I might have to give the frequent customer discount." He joked.

"What's a discount?" Naruto asked.

Ayame giggled a bit, thinking that her father just made a mistake. "Discount means the price is cheaper than normal for a bit. So if you come here regularly, it will later cost less." She told him, making his smile grow and eyes sparkle with joy. Smiling she turned to Teuchi, who started to see where this could go. "Hey, just be glad I didn't mention the bulk rate prices."

"What're bulk rate prices?" Naruto asked curiously.

Giggling at Teuchi's worry, Mikoto turned back to the boy. "It's a situation where it's actually cheaper to buy a lot of things at once than one at a time. Here, if you buy ten bowls together, it's cheaper than if you bought ten bowls individually. Of course few people do that since it works best in groups rather than one person."

Naruto went starry-eyed and started drooling upon hearing this.

"Not today, Naruto. I don't have enough and you really shouldn't eat that many by yourself to begin with." Mikoto told him, sensing the approaching question.

Naruto sighed and looked down, but nodded. "I understand, Mikoto-san."

"But maybe, on a holiday, I'll make an exception." She added to give him something to look forward to.

Naruto perked up almost instantly and smiled.

"By the way, know what these are called?" She added, using her chopsticks to show him a small ingredient in the ramen that had a red swirl in it.

"No, what are they?" Naruto asked, having no idea what they are.

"They go by two names. Some call them fishcakes, and some call them... naruto."

"What? You mean these are named after me?" He asked in disbelief.

"More named like you then after you." She corrected.

"Who would have guessed... either whoever named me _really_ liked ramen or someone else gave them the idea as a joke, but they took it seriously." Naruto said, still surprised.

"Or maybe they used the other meaning of naruto, which is maelstrom." Mikoto suggested, not wanting to tell the boy where his parents _really_ got his name from, since that would lead to more questions she wasn't authorized to answer.

Naruto thought it over. "Okay, that's could be it, too..."

"You going to be okay for dinner tonight Naruto?" Mikoto asked, since the topic of food was up.

Naruto shrugged. "I should be fine. Besides, I don't wanna be a bother."

"Well just to be sure, how about you get one more ramen to go so you can eat it later if you like?" She offered.

"That does sound good." He admitted.

Upon hearing that, Teuchi and Ayame began to get to work on Naruto's next bowl.

"Again, thank you, Mikoto-san. Do I owe you anything?" Naruto asked.

"No, just keep being a nice person and say hi once in a while if you can. That's all I ask." She told him, ruffling his hair affectionately as she said this.

Naruto mock-pouted at the hair-ruffling, but smiled up at her. "I can do that."

"Great. And let me know if those bullies or their parents come back." She added.

"I'll make sure to tell you if they do." Naruto told her.

Mikoto decided to change the subject. "So, I hear you do a lot of pranks around town. Care to share any of them?"

"Why?" Naruto asked. In all his time as a prankster, the only time anyone can ever talked to him about them was ordering him to stop.

"Oh, you might find this hard to believe, but my best friend had a wild side to her too. In fact when I hear you're up to your mischief it reminds me of her. So I want to get an idea of how good you are compared to her." Mikoto explained.

Naruto smiled at hearing that. "Really?

Mikoto nodded. "Absolutely. Tell me something you considered really clever, and I might tell you what she did on occasion."

Naruto perked at the idea of actually being encouraged to express himself and having his efforts appreciated. "Nice to know at least one person in this village has a sense of humor. Hmm..." He tried to think of one that had been really hard to pull off. "This one time, I replaced the stuff the Hokage puts in his pipe with colored explosive powder. Not a lot, just enough to be a small firecracker."

Mikoto raised an eyebrow. "And? What happened when he lit it?"

"In a word, bang."

Mikoto chuckled "I'll bet that gave him a real surprise."

Naruto nodded but with a grin. "Yeah, he was so mad at me. I told him I heard smoking was bad for his health so was it a crime to take away what was hurting our hokage?"

Mikoto and the others start laughing. "What other kinds of pranks have you pulled?" Ayame asked eagerly.

"Itching powder in the hot springs." He added.

"Itching powder? Wouldn't that not work in water?" She asked, curious.

"Who said it was ordinary itching powder? It was the kind strong enough to make the Aburames think they had fleas." Naruto elaborated.

Mikoto blanched. "Where did you get something that strong?"

"I made it myself at home." He admitted. "Don't worry, I forgot to write down the recipe so I doubt I can make anymore of it anytime soon."

Mikoto were caught between being relieved that he couldn't make it again any time soon and finding his prank funny.

"So how much of it do you have left then?" Ayame asked. "You only said you can't make more, but you didn't say you've run out of what you have made."

Naruto smirked. "Enough to use it for a least a couple more pranks."

"Why not save it for when you're a ninja?" Teuchi suggested. "Something that strong would make a great weapon against an enemy."

"You think so?" Naruto asked.

Mikoto nodded. "Yeah, the enemy can't fight you or use jutsu if they're too busy trying to rip their own skin off because of a really bad itch."

Naruto smirked in a manner resembling an evil genius and began to chuckle at that idea.

"If I were you Naruto, I'd save the powder for an enemy that uses either Ninjutsu or Kenjutsu. They need their hands more than any other type of ninja, so if they're itchy they'd be the ones least able to fight back with their hands full." Mikoto told him.

Naruto nodded while making a mental note of her advice. "I will. At least until I can find out how to make some more."

Mikoto nodded. "Well this gives you time. And who knows? You might even make some other varieties in the process."

"Like what?" Naruto asked while raising an eyebrow.

Mikoto shrugged. "Oh I dunno. Maybe something that burns them a bit, or gets really sticky? My friend once put some glue on the Academy's practice kunai so when the students and teachers grabbed them they couldn't throw them."

Naruto chuckled at hearing that and made a mental note to try that. Maybe with rubber cement instead of normal glue.

"What would be really good is if you could find a way to use laxatives that are absorbed through the skin." Ayame suggested, only to get a dirty look from her father. "Tell me that's not a good idea. I dare you."

Naruto smirked again and chuckled evilly.

"Ku... my friend did something like that once." Mikoto said, almost slipping on the name. "She managed to put some laxative powder into a student's lunch just before the genin test that year. Boy, seeing him try to tough it out before he couldn't take it anymore still makes me laugh." She finished with a chuckle.

Naruto cracked up at hearing that. "I would _love_ to get to meet that friend of yours and get some tips from her!"

Mikoto had to look away to prevent him from seeing the expression she could not control at those words. It was the kind of face single mothers had when their child asked when their dads were coming home, but the answer was never. Mikoto could _not_ bring herself to give Naruto that same expression.

Though the fact that she was looking as much away from him as possible right then still made him feel like he had said something wrong.

"Was it something I said?" Naruto asked, afraid that he'd said something to upset her.

She turned to him, shaking her head and trying to smile but her eyes were closed to hide her sadness at what she had little choice but to say. "No, nothing like that Naruto. It's just... my friend is... no longer with us."

"Where did she go?" He asked, not getting the implication.

The Uchiha matriarch hesitated, trying to find the best words to use. "She went to Heaven."

"What do you mean she went to..." Naruto started, but paused when he realized what she meant and his eyes widened. "Oh... you mean she's... you know..."

She nodded. "Yeah, I miss her a lot."

"I'm sorry." Naruto apologized.

"Don't be, you didn't know and you have nothing to be blamed for." She reassured him. 'No matter what stupid excuse someone can come up with, absolutely nothing that happened that night was Naruto's fault. Anyone stupid enough to believe otherwise deserves worse than they believe he deserves.'

Naruto nodded sadly and felt his appetite waning, but continued to eat. "If it's not too rude, how did she die?"

Mikoto again struggled with herself, wondering how much she could tell Naruto without breaking the law. She thought it over. She could just tell him that she died during the Kyuubi attack. She didn't have to tell him how it happened. "She helped fight when the Kyuubi appeared, she was trying to protect her child. She didn't make it." She admitted, a tear going down her cheek.

Naruto stopped eating. He wanted to do something to make her feel better, but had no idea of how to go about doing it. Part of him thought about reaching over and giving her a hug, he had heard some people offer them to others when they were upset. Somehow it was supposed to make them feel better. But he restrained himself, not sure that she's want such a gesture.

Eventually, he decided to give it a try and hope for the best. With trepidation, the young boy got off his stool, then came up beside Mikoto and wrapped his arms around her as best he could. She froze upon this, and he took that as a bad sign so he started to release her. However, she surprised him by engulfing him in a hug and crying a bit harder. He couldn't get out, but he didn't really want to. She needed this apparently, and it did feel nice to be hugged in return.

What he didn't know was that Mikoto, right now, was crying for him. Crying for how the mother she had been talking about would never be able to hug him like she was. So she was trying to give Naruto what Kushina never would be able to. Even if it was just this one time, Naruto needed to feel like a normal child.

Naruto began to melt into the embrace. 'I-is... is this what it feels like... to have a mom...?'

"Thank you Naruto." She told him, to soothe any worries he might have about her reaction.

"Your welcome, Mikoto-san..." Naruto replied, relieved that she seemed to be feeling better, but not eager for the hug to end just yet.

Neither was she, but, sadly, she couldn't hold him forever. 'Oh, how I wish Fugaku would let me adopt him. Would it really be the end of the world to interact with those outside the clan for reasons beyond business?' She knew her husband was just anti-social by nature and not a bad person, but did a child really have to suffer just because he wanted to be left alone?

Finally, the two of them separated. This left Naruto disappointed that it was over, but happy that he got to experience it at least once.

Mikoto wiped her eyes. "I'm sure she would have loved to get to know you, Naruto." Screw what the old man could say, Naruto deserved to know _that_, if nothing else.

Naruto wiped his own eyes, which had a few tears in them, and smiled at that. "You really think so?"

She nodded with a proud smile. "Definitely."

Teuchi smiled warmly with a small nod in agreement while Ayame smiled too with gentle tears collecting in her eyes at the sight.

Unknown to them all there was someone else who could see this, standing outside the ramen shop, watching the older woman hug the young boy. He didn't know what to do, but he did know what not to do, and that was ruin the moment.

'Naruto almost never gets moments like this, he should enjoy this for as long as he can.'

He looked on, but then he suddenly remembered why he was here in the first place. He slowly walked into the stand. "Hello?" Everyone turned to see him, a slender teenage boy, couldn't be more than a year older than Ayame. He had black hair and eyes identical to Mikoto in shade but his face seemed older than it was, probably due to the prominent creases by his nose.

"Itachi? What brings you here?" Mikoto asked.

Itachi looked at Mikoto. "Otousan was wondering where you were, Okaasan. He dismissed it as you being out on errands, but I had a feeling that it may be something else." He then looked at Naruto. "And it appears I was correct."

Naruto didn't know if he should apologize or just leave. But he felt that someone he had just gotten Mikoto into trouble. He hung his head. "Sorry, don't be mad at her."

"Who said I was mad at her?" Itachi asked.

Naruto looked up at Itachi in surprise. "W... what...?"

"I was just checking on where she was. I wasn't intending on telling her what she can or can't do." He told the boy.

Naruto sighed in relief, happy that Mikoto wouldn't be in any trouble.

"Well, tell him I'll be home when I'm good and ready." Mikoto told her son.

Itachi smiled a bit, happy to see the more forceful side of his mother that he'd heard about from stories he'd heard about her days as an active shinobi. "I will make sure to, Okaasan."

"What did he want me for, anyway?" She asked, feeling obligated to.

"Otousan just wanted to know where you were. Usually when you're out you're just running errands within the district." Itachi answered.

Mikoto shrugged. "Sometimes I like to see the rest of the village."

"Understandable. Many members of our clan feel that way sometimes." Itachi replied.

Naruto just watched in silence, wondering what they were saying but sensing it wasn't really any of his business.

Mikoto then snapped her fingers. "Now I remember why I was out in the first place!" She looked to Naruto then Itachi then back to Naruto. "Sorry Naruto, but we should probably cut this short. One more bowl for you to take home, then I'll have to be on my way."

"What's the matter? Do you have somewhere important to go?" Naruto asked her, trying to not pry, but wanting to know.

"Kinda, just gotta get some stuff for my home. But we will see each other again when I have free time." She reassured, ruffling his hair again.

Naruto smiled up at her. "Okay! See you around, Mikoto-san!"

*End Flashback*

Fatigue was starting to set in again for the whiskered blonde and he was struggling to not give in. So the question then was should he go in and face inevitable questions or stay out here and delay them for a couple more hours? Deciding that he just wanted to get them out of the way, Naruto picked up his plate before returning the branches to their original positions. Oddly enough, when he went back inside the only person he could see was Tazuna, as if he had never gotten up.

"Good you're back." The old man noted.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Where're Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, and the teme?"

Tazuna shrugged. "They went upstairs. If they're not sleeping, then heck if I know what they're doing."

'Well, at least I won't have to face all of the questions tonight.' Naruto thought. "Alright then, guess I'll turn in too.

Naruto was about to turn and head upstairs. "Hang on a second, gaki."

He slowly turned back to the client for the mission. "Yes?"

Tazuna looked away and scratched the back of his head, looking very awkward at the moment. "I-I know we haven't known each other long... a-and that I don't exactly seem like the best kind of person to come to if you have problems, but... but if you ever need someone to talk to about something, just let me know, okay?"

Naruto wasn't sure what to say. To be honest he hadn't even anticipated something like this. So he decided the only thing he could do was simply be polite. "Thank you for the offer Tazuna-san. I'm not good at opening up to people, but I am glad you will give me the chance if I need it."

Tazuna smiled a bit, still feeling awkward but trying to be polite. "You're welcome, gaki. Well, we should both probably go to bed. I've got to get up early to work on the bridge tomorrow and you've probably got training to do tomorrow if you're not going to end up as my guard."

Naruto smiled and nodded. "Better than doing nothing, right?"

Tazuna immediately caught the hidden message in his words and his own smile brightened. "Doing nothing is for the weak my boy."

The two of them both headed upstairs, Tazuna for his room and Naruto for the guest room he had to share with Kakashi and Sasuke. The next morning everyone was back outside training again. Luckily no one had bothered to bring up Naruto's outburst yet, as if agreeing that it was a subject best left untouched until further notice. Whatever their reasons for it, the fact that they were choosing to not bring it up was something that Naruto was glad for. The last thing he felt like doing was being interrogated about his outburst.

"Alright Naruto, Sasuke, get back to trying to reach the top of the tree." Kakashi said, still using crutches to stand up.

"Sensei, I know Sakura can do this without falling, but shouldn't she be learning how to handle falling?" Naruto asked, making the pinkette widen her eyes. "I get the feeling that part of the training itself is learning how to land painlessly. So, if that's the case, then she's only learned half of the lesson."

Sakura was about to open her mouth to protest, but Kakashi eye-smiled and nodded. "Very good, Naruto! I'm glad to see that you figured that out! Yes, learning how to handle falling _IS_ part of the training for this exercise."

"You expect me to spend my day falling out of trees on purpose?" Sakura asked.

"You expect me to let you pick and choose what lessons you get?" Kakashi replied.

"But who's going to guard Tazuna-san, sensei? You're still not at a hundred percent, so who will be able to do it if all tree of us constantly spend time training?" Sakura asked, still hoping for a way to get out of it.

"I could just send some Kage Bunshin. I recently found out that, when they dispel themselves, I and any other clones I've already made get their memories. If something happens, one of the clones could dispel and we'll come a-running." Naruto added, partially lying.

You see, he _did_ figure it out recently per say, since it was one of his newest jutsu. But he also learned of it the night he learned the jutsu, since he read the entire description for it. He just did his best to ignore the memories while training against them in spars, in an attempt to simulate being attacked by _real_ enemies. But he _always_ remembered the memories he gained from them on at least a subconscious level.

"Not helping, Naruto!" Sakura snapped lightly.

"Actually, he is." Kakashi agreed. "Go ahead Naruto, provide your clones. Sakura, you get to work on learning how to make falling painless."

Sakura glared at Naruto as he made some shadow clones while grinning victoriously. And before she could hit him, and claim it was training to learn how to take hits, he was already on a tree, pretending to practice it. Seeing that her opportunity had eluded her, Sakura sighed and set herself on getting to work. The sooner she could get this done, the better.

Kakashi watched as all three of his students were doing as they were told, some more eagerly then others, and decided to sit down for a while to avoid stress on his body. But in the process of putting down his crutches carefully and moving himself, he saw something that caught his eye.

'What's that?' He asked himself, squinting to get a better look. 'Must be a trick of the light, but just to be sure.' He got back up and grabbed his crutches again.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked from her branch.

"Everything's fine, I'm just taking a look at something." He told her before going into the forest.

Kakashi kept going, wanting to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. To his amazement and wonder, what he saw was exactly what he thought he saw: Wooden spikes. And not just any wooden spikes. Wooden spikes jutting right out of the ground with the earth around them damaged, as though they'd shot out of the ground at a high speed by civilian standards. Kakashi _knew_ that wooden spikes in and of themselves were unnatural, but wooden spikes shooting out of the ground fast enough to damage the earth around where they sprouted? That was _highly_ unusual.

'This almost looks like the work of a Mokuton user, but that's impossible. Even if Hashirama-sama had been here when he was alive, these spikes would be grown over with leaves and show wear and tear over the years. These spikes look brand new, like they were made yesterday. Impossible, and yet here they are.' Kakashi thought, not sure what to make of this discovery.

With a feeling of dread, Kakashi looked back at his students, all unaware of his discovery or reaction to it. 'This could mean anything. I just hope that this mission won't turn out to be their last.'

_**To Be Continued...**_

**Well, I'm liking this! Hope you guys do, too. Aloha and shaka, readers!**


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